Through Frosted Glass
by samcedeswannabe
Summary: Mercedes Jones has been friends with Jason Costella for as long as she can remember. They have always had each others backs no matter what, even during times that seemed almost impossible to handle. But when one night and one meeting threatens to destroy the 'Topanga and Corey' like friendship, both friends are forced to learn the hardest lessons about sacrifice.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So this was a fic that was inspired by these two rp characters ( , )who have amazingly let me use the characters and the profiles they've made for them, in my story. It is a Samcedes story as he will be coming along, but be patient because development is key. I'd like to thank my bffffff J.G. for her help and support and again wish to thank the lovely rpers who have inspired me to write this.

Through Frosted Glass

_One has to lose their sanity to see the true reality- me_

Mercedes Jones sat behind the large garbage bin in the Far East corner of her school playground and stared at her Sailor Moon lunch pail. She traced the raised outline of the posing long haired blonde girl with her little finger and smiled at the image. Almost every day, she wished that the character would be her best friend and protect her from evil, just like she did in the show. But the whiny blonde girl never showed up and the bullies just kept on coming. A bunch of footsteps neared the trash can, so Mercedes chose to duck down further in the cramped space and listen. She could hear Santana Lopez, a girl in her grade one class, speak to her best friend Brittany.

"Brittany...I don't think you should let your cat smoke." The haughty brunette said rather loudly.

"But...he asked me to get him some from daddy's room and to make sure to get matches. So why can't he smoke 'em?" The blonde replied in a low monotone voice.

"Cause he's not big enough and only big people like my daddy are allowed to. Only doo doo heads let their cats smoke." Mercedes could hear bursts of laughter and assumed that there were more kids by the garbage bin than she had previously assumed. Suddenly, something began to tickle the top of her hand and she turned her head slowly and stared down at the caterpillar that was slowly making its way across her small, smooth, brown skin. Slowly raising her hand to her face, she smiled at the creature and helped it crawl on to her other finger. Gently, she placed the caterpillar back on the ground and watched it slink away. Quietly, she whispered, "Someday you'll b-b-be a b-b-butterfly." As soon as she finished her sentence, she heard a harsh silence from the group that had just been right beside her. She looked up and saw Santana peering at her with a devilish smirk on her face.

"I knew I heard stuttering Cedes behind here, whatcha t-t-talkin about now stuttering Cedes?" The girl cackled and everyone in her group except for Brittany laughed along with her. "Are you behind the garbage because you smell like garbage?" Mercedes quickly sprung up from her spot and stared at the four kids in front of her. Without uttering another word, she pushed the bin aside and walked away from them as fast as she could, but they chased her and caught up. Santana quickly stood in front of Mercedes and the rest surrounded her on all sides. "Where you goin stuttering Cedes? We just want to be friends." Santana smiled sweetly at the shorter girl with the four big braids in her hair and then looked around at her friends. "But first you have to say butter." Mercedes closed her eyes and held her lunch pail tightly to her chest. She shook her head no and then slowly looked up at the other six year old from under her eyelashes.

"No." Was all she could say as she felt her pulse race and her legs begin to shake as the group stared her down.

"DO IT!" the brunette little girl yelled, "or I'll put worms in your lunch pail again." Mercedes' head snapped up and she stared in horror at Santana. She hated worms with a passion and had cried for a whole ten minutes last week when she had found one in her ham sandwich. Her feet shifted position and she scratched the back of her left leg with her right foot.

"B-b-b-ut-t-ter," She stuttered out as quickly as she could. Her eyes quickly closed as the group began to chant stuttering Cedes and dance around her. Just as quickly as it all began, she heard a firm voice from behind her which quickly shut up the group.

"I told you, you big eyed big headed weirdo to stay away from my little sister!" She heard her big sister Gabrielle, who she called Gabs, say from behind her, "No one makes fun of her but me! you got that twerps. If I catch you calling her names again, I will make all my grade four friends give you guys swirlys, you got that?" she yelled. Mercedes opened her eyes in time to see the scared group of six year olds nod. "Go away!" Gabrielle yelled out, which even caused Mercedes to jump. She slowly turned around and faced her nine year old sister who had her hand on her hip, "Elmo, what did I tell you to do when those big heads bothered you?" Elmo, had been Gabs new favourite nickname for her little sister since every time you tickled her, she would laugh uncontrollably. Mercedes looked down at her Barbie shoes and felt her body begin to shake with tears.

"T-t-to tell a teacher and get them in t-t-rouble." She said quietly refusing to look up into her sisters disapproving stare. A firm hand landed on her shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. Her big sister pulled her into a tight hug and Mercedes wished that she would never let go. But she knew better. As much as her big sister loved her, she wouldn't be caught dead by the other fourth graders hugging her little sister.

"Right! You have to stick up for yourself Cedes or those little weirdo bullies will be mean to you forever. No one can protect you all the time and Sailor Moon doesn't exist. So you gotta stand up for yourself." Mercedes nodded against her sister's chest and listened to her heart beat. It weirded her out that her sister was going to have big ta ta's ( a word she had learned from her uncle Kev') like their mommy someday in the space where her head comfortably laid flush against right now. Her sister pulled Mercedes away from her and held her at hands length. She gave her the stare that Mercedes had seen so often on her mother's face whenever she spoke of a court case. "You hear me Mercedes?"

"Yes Gabs." She hiccupped and gripped the handle of her lunch pail tighter once she heard the school bell ring.

"Good, gotta go Elmo. Stand up for yourself!" Gabrielle yelled over her shoulder as she scurried off to join her class. Mercedes contemplated hiding behind the garbage can again, but knew she would get into a lot of trouble for not being in class, so she slowly walked to the grade one line up spot. She could see Santana whispering something to a little boy with a Mohawk, who quickly turned his head in Mercedes direction and laughed. Her face began to feel hot and she could feel the familiar burning and wetness in her eyes as her tears spilled down her cheeks. Mrs. Clark, her grade one teacher with the beautiful gap between her teeth and flowing long brown hair, stood in front of her class' line and smiled.

"Boy's and girl's, we have a lovely surprise today! You'll see what it is once we get inside." Mercedes silently wiped the tears from her eyes and followed behind the moving line. She followed the other children to their cubbies and placed her lunch pail inside and removed her jacket. There was a deep fear that if she left the lunch pail by itself, there would be worms in her sandwich again today, especially after what Gabby had done a few moments ago. She gave it one last sad look before she walked to her desk and sat down for morning announcements. Just the thought of not being able to eat her lunch made her stomach ache with hunger, even though she had eaten cereal not even an hour before. From the corner of her eye, she watched Artie Abrams, a peculiar kid with glasses, pick his nose and fling the findings at the kid with the Mohawk who sat in front of him. As if Artie had known that she had been watching him the entire time, he turned his head and gave her a large grin. Although she was creeped out, she returned the smile and the young boy began to blush and fan himself. Mercedes inwardly laughed at the boy. She often wondered if they were made to sit together because they were so peculiar, that nobody else wanted to sit with them. The boy who picked his nose and the little girl who stuttered, seemed to be two peas in an unfortunate and odd pod. She often caught him staring and smiling at her, but whenever she tried to befriend him he would have an asthma attack, so she maintained her distance. Just as she was about to ask Artie if he liked worms, because she a) was curious and b) wanted to see if he would have another asthma attack, Mrs. Clark began to speak at the front of class.

"Alright boys and girls, our surprise today is a new student." She beamed around at the curious kids. She turned her head to the side and beckoned someone who stood in the hallway. A young boy with messy curly dark brown hair and strikingly blue eyes shyly walked into the room. Mercedes' eyes widened as she recognized the boy who had just moved in next door that weekend. She remembered watching him from the upstairs bedroom where she slept with Gabrielle. He had looked so sad as he stood to the side and eyed two adults, who she assumed to be his parents, walk in and out of the house directing the movers. Gabrielle had moved beside her and whistled. "Boy, those people must be kazillionaires." Confused, Mercedes looked at the furniture that they were moving in and noticed that they were extremely nice, even better than her parents stuff.

"How come that little boy just stands there?" Mercedes stared harder at the curly haired boy.

"Maybe, he's a vampire or something." Gabrielle, shrugged and left the room. Mercedes cocked her head to the side and wondered if what Gabs had said was true. As if hearing her thoughts, she saw the icy blue eyes from across the yard connect with hers. Fearing that he would try to suck her blood, she slowly moved back and away from the window. This was why Mercedes' blood had run cold once the young boy entered the classroom. If he was a vampire, she only hoped he would bite Santana first so that she couldn't put worms in her sandwich again.

"This is Jason Costella and he's from Buffalo. I expect you all to be kind and help him get around." Mrs. Clark announced to the class and pat the shy boy on the back. Mercedes watched as he scanned their faces with his eyes and she wondered if he was going to try to eat one of them. She looked over at Artie, who seemed to be unfazed by the scary presence and then looked back at Jason who was now staring at her. An audible gulp was heard in the room and she realised that it had come from her. "Jason, you can sit in the empty seat by Mercedes Jones." The teacher smiled kindly at her, "Mercedes raise your hand so Jason can see you." Slowly she raised a trembling arm into the air and the boy walked straight towards her and smiled. She wondered if vampires could smile and figured they couldn't because of their fangs, so she smiled back in relief that he wasn't out to bite her. Once Jason had sat down and settled in, the class went on as normal.

At recess, Mercedes ran out across the play ground and hid behind a shrub. It was her second favourite hiding place on the play ground. She pulled her knees up to her chest and quietly hummed to herself and waited for recess to be over. Suddenly, a shadow to her right blocked out the warm sun. She looked up into blue eyes. "Hi." Jason said shyly as he stared down at her. "Can I sit with you?" Mercedes had never been asked that question before and was scared to answer in case she stuttered so she just nodded. "Thanks." He plopped himself down hard on to the grassy spot beside her. "I live next door to you." He smiled at her and she smiled back and nodded. "You don't say much." He frowned. Mercedes quickly calculated how she could reply to him without words. After coming up with nothing, she spoke.

"Yea, you're my neighbour. Are you all alone or d-d-o you have brothers or sisters?" Jason shook his head.

"Nah, but I want one. Gramps said maybe one day when I'm older, so I can help take care of them." Mercedes nodded and pulled her legs closer to her. "You cold or something?" He said with a bit of a laugh.

"No, I just don't want to get all of my pants dirty." She smiled at him.

"Ew, new boy don't sit with stuttering Cedes." She looked over her shoulder and stared at Santana. The tears started to well up in her eyes once again for the day. Her first ever friend was now going to make fun of her too.

"What's a stuttering Cedes?" Jason asked curiously.

"That's her right there." The unusually tall six year old with the dark brown hair said. Mercedes felt the tears fall down her cheeks and stood up. She tried to get away but the kid with the Mohawk, Noah, stood in her way.

"We're going to make you eat worms," he said while laughing in her face.

"No you won't and if you touch her I'll break your arm." Mercedes turned around and stared at Jason in shock. In fact the entire group stared at him. Noah laughed and then moved past Mercedes and stood in front of the curly haired boy.

"Not with these babies!" Noah flexed his skinny little arms. Almost in a blink of an eye, Jason had grabbed Noah's arm and twisted it behind his back. "OW!" Noah screamed, "I'm gonna tell!"

"If any of you guys bother her or call her that name again, I'll break all your arms." The scariest part of Jason's threat, was how calm he said everything, even though his face was enraged. The rest of the group ran away and Jason shoved Noah, who was crying, to the ground. The boy quickly jumped up and ran away. Mercedes stared at the blue eyed boy in awe.

"Thank you for s-t-t-opping them." She said quietly.

"I don't like mean people." He said simply and smiled shyly at her as if nothing had happened. "Come on, let's go play hopscotch." He took her hand into his own and blushed. Mercedes stared at the new boy in wonder. For the first time in her life, her sister had been wrong. There was someone who would protect her all the time, she just never thought it would be the curly haired boy from next door.


	2. Chapter 2

Through Frosted Glass

_One has to lose their sanity to see the true reality- me_

Jason opened one eye and peeked at his clock. It was seven on the dot which meant it was almost time to get up and venture through the gates of hell also known as High School. He covered his face with his pillow in hopes of blocking out the sun that was shooting through the curtains like a laser beam. A strong flowery smell of the woman he had brought home the night before was drenched into the pillow and he immediately threw it to the floor and covered his face with his hands. A groan escaped his lips as he tried to remember her name. "Gretchen?...Suzie?...uh." He rubbed his temples in hopes of remembering, but it only gave him a headache. He rolled over and grabbed his wallet from his night stand. Smiling triumphantly he pulled a paper with 'Gretchen's' number out of it and tore it up. Seeing something move from the corner of his eye, he quickly turned his head and stared at his four year old sister Carrie. He clutched his chest from the fright she had given him, his eyes wandered to his open door and figured she must have slept badly. Whenever she had nightmares and hadn't slept all night, she would come and lie down on his bed in the morning where she would eventually fall asleep. "Care Bear...why are you up so early silly?" She grinned at him and pushed a shiny long red lock of hair out of her face. Jason stared into the blue eyes that looked exactly like his own and shook his head. During the horrible rough patches in his life, she and Mercedes had been his lifesavers. They were the only two people in the entire world, since his gramps had died two years before, that managed to keep him sane. "Well Care Bear, what do you have to say for yourself hmm?" The little girl giggled and hopped on to the bed. Jason wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.

"Daddy, I'm hungry." She said quietly and stuck her thumb behind her front teeth. It had been a bad habit that she had picked up recently. Jason sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Carrie, you know you're not supposed to call me that. I'm your big brother and my dad is your dad. He's our dad." He had tried to explain this concept to her for too long and too many times. She gave him a puzzled look and he sighed. He closed his eyes as his headache began to build up behind his eyes. "Alright, you lie down and I'm going to go change in the bathroom. Don't jump on the bed either." He gave her a stern look, pulled some clothes out of his drawers and headed to the next room. It wasn't surprising that Carrie thought that he was her father considering that he was the only one in the house who didn't ignore the little girl or treat her like crap. Jason was very familiar with the treatment and had experienced it all of his life. Well that was a lie. His grandfather 'gramps' did his best to make Jason feel like an actual kid and not some mistake his parents made on one of the few occasions they had sex or even saw each other.

He brushed his teeth and washed his face and tried to push his grandfather from his mind, or else he would never focus in class. A slight chuckle escaped from his lips at the realisation that he never focussed in class. Majority of the time he only went to see Mercedes or because she'd scold him if he didn't go. A smile tugged at his lips as he thought about her angry face. After finishing up in the bathroom he walked back into his room to find Carrie jumping on his bed, he quickly grabbed her and sat her down. "Carrie! What did I tell you!" He raised his voice and her lip began to tremble. He looked at the clock and knew he was going to be late soon if he didn't go. "Shhh, no please don't do that. You know you have a special fairy heart and you can't jump up or run a lot because it will hurt the fairy living in here." He tapped the spot over her heart. Carrie had been born with a weak heart as a baby because she had been premature, and although she could be active, too much activity could overwork her heart and give her a heart attack. Carried nodded and gave her big brother a hug.

"I promise I won't hurt the fairy." She smiled and he lightly pinched her cheeks.

"Now lie down and sleep and I'll see you soon." The little girl followed orders and closed her eyes. He waited until her breathing evened out before he opened his window and climbed outside into the large tree that separated the two yards. He made a few bird calls and saw her window swing open.

"You're late Jay." Mercedes said in a firm tone, but he could see the smile playing on her lips.

"Or maybe you're too early?" He grinned at her and climbed into her very purple bedroom. "M do you need some money to redecorate? Because I can steal some from my folks if you want." She rolled her eyes at him and grabbed her back pack. Just as quickly he grabbed it out of her hand and slung it over his shoulder, "I think the purple in it brings out my eyes." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and opened her bedroom door for her. She rubbed the spot where he pecked her vigorously.

"Jay, don't kiss me when we b-both know you had some hoochie in your mouth last night," She walked past him and he grinned behind her.

"She wasn't a hoochie, she was forty four however. I think she left early to take her kids to school." The shorter woman quickly turned around and glared at him.

"Disgusting."

"Adventurous." He swung his arm over her shoulder. As they walked down the stairs, Mercedes' uncle Kev' rounded the corner.

"Boy do you not have a home? Because this one isn't it." The extremely shorter man glared up at the six foot curly haired blue eyed boy. "Cedes, didn't your mother teach you to not let strange white people into the house?" Mercedes rolled her eyes.

"Uncle Kev' You've been living here since I was eleven. And you know Jay's always here." She said calmly.

"Mhm, Jay stands for jail, which is where I'll end up once I find a way to kill his cereal stealing ass." The shorter man muttered as he walked to the den.

"I took his cinnamon toast crunch once, I bought him four boxes to replace it and he still brings it up. Should have put bugs in them." Jason stared after the shorter man until Mercedes snapped her fingers.

"See that's exactly why he wants to kill you." She laughed and stood by the front door and waited for Jason to open it. Mercedes wasn't being snobby, but Jason always felt better opening and closing doors for her or holding her books. She assumed it was because of the way his mother always stressed that he should be a proper gentleman and that no woman in the world would expect any less. As always he opened the door for her and she grinned at him as she walked out. "Thanks Jay."

"Anytime, beautiful." His blue eyes twinkled and she couldn't help but stare into them. Even though they had been friends for over a decade, his eyes never seemed to lose their affect on her. He took a step back and stared back at her. "Why do you always do that?" His voice broke her concentration and she covered her face with her hands.

"I don't know, they're just really sparkly and it's rare that you don't mess them up with your habits." She turned around and walked to her car. Jason had his own car, but he preferred going to school with her in her little old beat up one that she was proud to have purchased all by herself. Whenever Jay drove around in his own, it had made him feel dirty. It was as if his parents bought it for him so that he would just shut up and go away as much as possible. So he did. He used his fake ID and went to clubs, bars, anywhere he was able to get his fix and find someone to take home to his bed.

"That reminds me..." he pulled the joint out of his pocket and grinned at her. "Thanks M, I almost forgot I had one in these jeans."

Mercedes rolled her eyes at him and then glared at the little cigarette. "Jay, if you smoke that in here, I will step on your scrotum." Jason broke out into loud laughter and opened the passenger door for her. She handed him her keys, but held on to them. "I'm serious Jay, I will send uncle Kev' in through the doggy door and he will do it for me, with pleasure might I add."

"M, when have I ever smoked in your car?" she opened her mouth to reply and he put his hand up, "Okay, aside from that **one** time?" she closed her mouth into a firm line and hopped into the car. He grinned triumphantly and slipped in beside her and started it up. Thanks to Jason's terrifying driving skills they arrived to school with seven minutes before the bell. He ran around and opened the door for her and slipped the keys into her hand. They watched as Santana Lopez, now an extremely popular cheerleader, sauntered past them with her group of friends. She looked at Mercedes car, raised her eyebrow, and then chuckled before entering the high school. Mercedes was quick to grab Jason's arm as he quickly moved towards the entrance of the school. "Let me go Mercedes," he said in a low voice.

"Jay, it's fine! Whatever she thinks about my car doesn't b-bother me. And what are you going to do? B-break her arm?" She grinned at him, hoping that the overuse of weed hadn't messed with his memory so that he remembered the moment they had become friends. He looked down at her and returned the smile.

"No...but I might have cut that disgusting horse hair of hers off her head." He said calmly with a smile, but Mercedes knew he wasn't joking. As shy and quiet as Jason could be. If you pissed him off or aggravated him, he became an entirely different person. A shorter blonde girl with full lips walked past them and dropped her books. Jason quickly scrambled to help her pick them up. The girl smiled up at him and extended her hand.

"Thanks, it's my first day, so I get clumsy when I'm nervous." She laughed and Jason shook her hand. "I'm Quinn, but everyone calls me Q. Well back home anyways." Jason noticed that she had a heavy southern accent.

Jason smiled back shyly and nodded. "I totally understand. I was the new kid once, I was just lucky to have met M." He turned to Mercedes and put his arm around her shoulders, "Oh and I'm Jay." The blonde girl smiled at the pair and Mercedes could see the wonder in her eyes. She was giving them the same look that strangers gave them, when trying to figure out if they were a couple.

"Wow MJ huh? That's quite the pair." The blonde girl joked.

"Yea, I'm a pretty young thing and he's just b-bad." She pat his chest and stared at the school. "Come on let's go before we're late." He handed her the backpack and started to walk in the direction towards the back of the school. "Jay, what are you doing?" she yelled out.

"Don't worry, I'll drop in at some point and learn something. Nice meeting you Q." Mercedes slung her bag on to her back and stared after her curly haired friend.

"Well he's different." The new girl muttered under her breath.

"You don't know the half of it." Mercedes smiled at Quinn and they walked into the school together. She wondered how long it would take for the pixie like blonde to run away in fear, like all the other kids had. Jason was an extremely kind and gentle person. But after witnessing him in fights throughout the years, many people began to fear his harsh and abrasive attitude. "So where are you headed? Where's your next class?" Quinn pulled out her schedule and pointed to music. "Awesome! I'm in that class too. We can walk there together if you want."

"That would be awesome, thanks." She tucked a blonde strand behind her ear and looked at Mercedes from the corner of her eye. "Are you guys...you know?" Quinn asked shyly. Mercedes gave a small laugh.

"No, he's just my b-best friend." She left out 'my only friend'. "I've known him forever." The blonde girl nodded and then bit her lip. "So where are you from?"

"Kentucky!" the girl beamed a bright white smile.

"Oh, that's cool. I wondered where your nice accent was from."

"Why thanks, some people say it sounds hick, but I love it. My brother has it worse than I do though. But I think he believes he's a cow boy so he lays it on real thick on purpose to get the ladies." Quinn laughed as the pair hustled to class.

"Oh you have a b-brother?" Mercedes looked around to see if she could spot a new face among the running students.

"Ye, Sam's nineteen though, so he's already done school." She smiled as they sat down beside each other in class. "Shit, I hope they won't make me introduce myself. I'll be sweating bricks if they do." Quinn looked around the class and a few curious looks were thrown her way. Especially from two popular jocks, Noah Puckerman, and Finn Hudson. Mercedes laughed sadly and wondered if they would warn her new friend to stay away from stuttering Cedes. However, her stuttering had calmed down a lot since elementary school and she had Jason to thank for that. He always made her feel calm when he was around and her stutter only went back to how bad it had been whenever she was greatly distressed or terribly nervous.

"I don't think Mr. Schue will even notice you, so just lay low." The blonde girl nodded and looked at the greasy haired teacher.

"Ten dollars his hair smells." She whispered to Mercedes and giggled.

"Uh uh, I'm not laying a b-bet when I already know it does." She giggled back. She had a warm feeling in her chest and she figured it was because this girl seemed different. Quinn didn't seem the type to run away from her and Jason. But in high school, you never really knew. Take Brittany Pierce for instance. Best friends with Santana all of her life and then falls in love with Artie 'the nose picker' Abrams. Even though he had been in a crippling car accident and confined to a wheel chair, the tall blonde girl stuck by her man and was essentially exiled from Santana's clique. A note slid its way on to her desk from Quinn. Mr. Schuester was taking attendance, so Mercedes figured the girl didn't want to get in trouble for talking. She slowly unfolded the paper and read the neat print.

_Is your name like Emily or something? Or is it just Em?_

Mercedes laughed and scribbled on the back of the note.

_It's Mercedes, only Jay calls me M_

She slid the note back on to the blonde girl's desk and watched her eyes widen in surprise. She furiously scribbled out her previous note and added on to it before passing it back.

_Is your name like Emily or something? Or is it just Em?_

_Oh! I love that name, I think I will call you Cedes then_

Mercedes smiled at the girl and whispered, "That's perfectly fine."

"Quinn Evans!" Will Schuester said loudly and the entire class stared at them. "Ah, our new student from Kentucky." He smiled at Quinn. Mercedes turned to look at her and noticed the beads of sweat already gathering at the blonde's hairline. "Well welcome to Music!" Quinn nodded and squeaked out a quiet thanks. The teacher moved on to the next name and Mercedes pat the other girl's hand.

"See you did it." Quinn turned to look at Mercedes and gave her a smile of gratitude.

"Ugh...did I sweat bullets?" Mercedes laughed and shook her head no. "Sam's always makin fun of me for it, but I knocked a baseball at his groin the other day...so we're bout even now." Mercedes had to cover her mouth to stop the loud guffaw that almost escaped her lips.

"Your b-brother sounds funny."

"Alright class let's get this fiesta started!" Mr. Schuester announced loudly and the class groaned. Quinn pulled out her notebook and smiled at her new friend. Mercedes smiled back and hoped that Jason's mood swings didn't cause her to lose her first new friend in a very long time.

A/N: So this was a fic that was inspired by these two rp characters ( , )who have amazingly let me use the characters and the profiles they've made for them, in my story. It is a Samcedes story as he will be coming along, but be patient because development is key. I'd like to thank my bffffff J.G. for her help and support and again wish to thank the lovely rpers who have inspired me to write this.


	3. Chapter 3

Through Frosted Glass

_One has to lose their sanity to see the true reality- me_

Jay sat down at the large wooden dining room table, folded his arms over the smooth surface, and rested his head on his arms. The worst part of his day was about to happen and his headache wasn't going to make anything easier for him. Usually he was able to eat dinner with his family in complete and utter silence and then quickly run back upstairs to his room. His mother was generally pre-occupied with looking at fashion magazines and his father always managed to skillfully ignore Jay and his mother as if they weren't even there. Although one would think that his father's attitude would be considered a negative thing, Jay looked forward to it. Whenever his father realised that his son was indeed sitting there and alive, he did everything in his power to make his curly headed son feel like the dirt that littered the ground. If he wasn't scolding Jay about his grades or his appearance, he was telling him that he would never amount to anything more than being a disappointment. Jay squeezed his eyes shut and his thoughts drifted to Mercedes. He hadn't seen her since the day before when he watched her walk away with that pixie like blonde girl. At first he was rather unnerved by the new girl's presence and it bothered him that Mercedes seemed to drift so quickly to her. Hadn't he taught her that people were not to be trusted? Didn't she realise that they only had each other? He leaned his chin on his arms and watched as his mother sauntered into the room with her latest magazine under her arm. She promptly sat down and opened the magazine.

Without looking at him she cleared her throat and projected, "Sit up Jason." Jay groaned and pulled himself off of the table. "You know better than that don't you?" She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. Jay rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. He picked up his fork and started to spin it between his fingers as he ignored the cold woman in front of him. "Put your fork down, we use them for eating not playing with. Stop acting like a damn child." Jay slammed the fork on to the table.

"Get the hell off of my back." His growled as he placed his palms flat down on the cold wood. Just as he heard the audible gasp from his mother, he could hear the heavy steps of his father entering the room and placing the food on the table.

"What was that Jason? What did your worthless ass say to your mother?" Jay clenched his hands into fists and stared at the food that was placed on the table. He was weighing out his options. He could leave the house, go to a club, find a cougar and sleep at her house or he could stay here and test his limits. Just as he was about to get up and leave he remembered that he had to tuck Carrie in to bed that night since no one else would. Her birthday was coming up and he wanted to make her as happy as much as he could before the big day. He turned his head to the side and cracked his neck, before unclenching his hands and looking up into his father's dark blue eyes. "Did you hear me?"

"Yes father, I heard you." He said quietly as he took a deep breath. "And I told her to get the hell off of my fucking back." Jay was slightly scared that the impending argument would be extremely loud and wake up Carrie who was napping in his room. He was going to wake her up soon so that she wouldn't be up all night if he did decide to slip out and find a sex buddy. But if she heard screaming then she would start to cry. His father glared at him before walking over to his seat and dishing some food out on to his own plate.

"I wonder who the hell your mother must have fornicated with in order to create something as disgusting as you." He stuffed a piece of chicken into his mouth and chewed slowly. Jay looked over at his mother who at first looked hurt and then straightened her shoulders and continued to read her magazine.

"James, leave your son alone." She said under her breath and then looked up and stared at Jay. "Jason please take some food out for me." Jay grinded his teeth, stood up, and handed his mother a plate of food. "Now go to bed without dinner." He stood standing and turned to walk away before he remembered what he had wanted to ask his parents.

"Carrie's birthday's coming up." He stared at the ground and the headache began to grow. More than anything, he couldn't wait to get a joint from his room. But he needed to do this for Carrie. "I think we should have a party for her." His father stopped chewing and stared down at his almost empty plate. From his left he heard the clattering of his mother's fork on her plate as she glared at him.

"We're not doing anything for Carrie. Never ask us such a ridiculous question ever again." Jay's father picked some food out of his teeth with his finger. Jay's head throbbed as he tried to keep his temper in check. His father scoffed and started eating again.

"Your father's right. Carrie doesn't need a birthday party, now go to your room." His mother picked up her fork and pushed the food around on her plate as she continued to read her magazine.

"Why the fuck did you two even have her if you didn't give a shit! I'm throwing a party for her and there are going to be fairies and rainbows and she's going to fucking love it. Feel free to come if you ever realise that we're even alive." He turned on his heels and ran out of the dining room. Slowly opening his bedroom door, he peeked in and saw the red curls spilling out from under his sheets and smiled. "You're going to have the best birthday ever Care Bear." He whispered as he pulled a joint out from his drawer. He climbed out of the window and sat down in the large tree between the two houses. Lighting up the tiny cigarette, he stared into Mercedes dark bedroom window and wondered what the Jones were eating for dinner tonight.

* * *

"Meatloaf again? Damn woman, I know that being a lawyer is all hard work and no play, but this is the third time this week." Uncle Kevin stabbed the piece of meat with his fork, "I know ya'll make enough money to do better than this." Gavin Jones put his arms around his wife's waist as she menacingly held the knife her hands behind his brother Kevin. He leaned his chin on her shoulder and whispered something quietly into her ear that made her laugh and smack his hand. Mercedes smiled as she poured ketchup on to the lump of meat that rested in her plate. She wondered if Jay wanted to come over and share the 'amazing' meal that they were having tonight, but then she remembered that he had disappeared during school and was probably on the prowl. Rolling her eyes she put the bottle down and took a bite of her meal.

"Since you're not doing anything with your life Kevin, why don't you make dinner for us since you have so much damn free time?" Her dad sat down across from his brother and shook some salt and pepper on his meal. Her mother, Dana Jones, placed salads beside everyone's plate. Mercedes looked up at her mother and smiled.

"Thanks mom, it's really good. You should try the meatloaf with ranch dressing."

"Thank you baby," Her mother glared at her brother in law and sat down across from her daughter.

"No need to lie to her Cedes, you're gonna move out of here soon anyways." Mercedes tried her best not to laugh and almost choked on a piece of lettuce. "She can't kill you then."

"And when the hell are you going to move out Kevin? Because you've been here a bit too long if you catch my drift." Her mother held her fork like a spear and pointed it towards the smaller man. "Don't you forget that I did shot put for three years and I will throw your small ass out of the damn window if I need to." Uncle Kevin looked towards his brother for help, but Mercedes' dad simply dug into his salad and tried to hide the smile on his face.

"Damn Gav, you're going to let her do me like that? We're blood man." Kevin stared at his brother in shock.

"And she's about to spill yours all over this damn house if you don't shut up Kev. I'm just the head of this house, but this woman right here..." He pointed to her mother, "Is my neck and she can and will turn me whichever way she wants." Uncle Kevin pouted and stabbed his meatloaf a little too violently with his fork.

"You just mad because you're a dentist." Her uncle muttered under his breath as he drank water from his cup. Her mom's eyes widened and Mercedes saw her father slowly open his mouth, but her mom cut him off before he could say any profanity at the dinner table.

"I spoke to Gabby today." She smiled and shovelled some food into her mouth. "She said to email her Cedes, she has stuff to tell you, and Gavin she said she needs money." She looked pointedly at her husband who rolled his eyes and sighed.

"When does that child _Not_ need money? Do I look like a bank?" He chuckled to himself, "You know they say that dentists have a higher suicide rate than any other profession and I think it's only the dentists who have daughters in college." He looked over at Mercedes. "Don't go to college, stay home with your uncle Kevin and loaf." Her uncle looked over at his brother and gave him side eye.

"I own an internet business thank you very much. I sell squeegee's, now tell me that I'm a loafer again. I was going to give you my most expensive squeegee for Christmas but you just shot yourself in the foot man. You want a squeegee now? Go out and buy one." Dana Jones looked at her brother in law and rolled her eyes.

"Fool you're selling broken swiffers with some damn rubber stamp stuck on the bottom of it. That is not a squeegee, that's a lawsuit." Mercedes remembered that her uncle tried to pay her a nickel when she was younger to help him glue the rubber ends to the broom like instruments, but then her mother had told her no. She said that she didn't want her daughter to go to jail for selling defective items to people. "You're lucky I don't sue you my damn self." Mercedes admired her mother and her journey to become one of the city's big time lawyers. She had gotten pregnant the year she was supposed to take her bar examination and was going to give up to take care of Mercedes' sister Gabrielle. But her dad had given her all of the money he had in order for her to take the test and she had passed with flying colours. Her sister was now going to Brown to follow in her mother's footsteps. Mercedes was still unsure what she was going to do when she graduated. A part of her wanted to do something great, but she had no idea what she actually liked.

"Hey, I used to babysit the kids and did anyone say thank you Kev? Nope!" He finished off his plate and chugged down his water.

"You babysat the kids once and lost Mercedes in the process and then tried to replace her with a gerbil. You're lucky she was just sleeping in the laundry basket downstairs." Her father shook his head. Mercedes' eyes widened.

"You lost me and tried to replace me with a gerbil?" She wasn't sure if she should laugh or cry. Ultimately she burst out into loud laughter and had to cover her mouth.

"YOU SAID YOU'D NEVER TELL HER THAT!" Uncle Kevin pushed himself away from the table, put his dishes away, pushed his chair back in, went back to the sink washed his dishes, and then stood with his hand on his hip. "I'm not talking to either of you for a day, not you Cedes, I love you baby girl, but you two..." He pointed to her parents. "It's about to go down."

"How much more down can it get Kevin, you're only four feet tall. If we go any lower we'll hit the ground." Her mother burst out laughing and her father high fived her for her joke.

"I told you not to date the Amazon woman, but nooooo, you said she had good birthing hips." He kissed his teeth and walked out of the room. Her dad slowly turned to look at his wife who had folded her arms over her chest.

"You see, when I said that, I meant that I thought you would be a really good mother some day and then I knew that I wanted to marry you." Mercedes watched as her mother leaned back in her chair and gave her father cut eye. Trying not to get caught in the crossfire, she quickly excused herself from the table and ran up to her room and smelled the familiar smell wafting through her window. She rolled her eyes and walked towards her window and tried to see the culprit in the darkness.

"Hey M," Mercedes smiled and leaned out of the window as Jay walked closer to her. He sat on the limb nearest to her room and held on to it tightly. "Miss me?" She shook her head and smiled.

"Jay what are you doing home? Where did you go today and yesterday as a matter of fact?" She swung her legs over her window sill and leaned her head against the side. She had missed him a lot and as much as she enjoyed the company of her new friend, she felt like something was missing and immediately realised it was Jay.

His eyes twinkled in the darkness and he reached out and touched her hand. "Missed me?" She rolled her eyes and then slowly nodded. "I want you to say it M."

"I missed you a lot, now tell me why you d-disappeared." She could see his smile in the darkness and she felt more at ease now that he was around. There was something about Jay that she couldn't quite understand and knew that nobody did. It was this mysterious side he had to him even though she knew pretty much everything there was to know about Jason Costella.

"You made a new friend...I wanted to give you some time to get to know her and see her true colours." He said casually and placed his hand back on the branch. Mercedes squinted her eyes and cocked her head to the side.

"What d-does that mean? Her true colours?" she laughed, "Jay, she's a really nice girl from Kentucky and I think she thinks you're cute. Lord knows why." She smiled into the darkness and saw Jay slightly fidget.

"She's not my type. But now that you mention hormones, I really need to get out and get laid." Her smile fell and she rolled her eyes. "M, when you have sex, you'll know what I mean."

"You're going to get a disease you know. Why don't you just get a girlfriend?" Jay shrugged and looked out towards the street.

"Don't have time for feelings...you and Care Bear are all I need and care about so it doesn't matter. Anyways I have to go. But you better make time for me tomorrow Mercedes. I'm serious." She sighed and nodded. She was supposed to have a mall date with Quinn after school, but she decided that seeing her best friend was more important. Plus she was itching to tell him about the last two days of school and everything that was happening. He leaned over and kissed her forehead before slowly walking back through the tree and into his room. Mercedes watched as he turned towards his bed and she prayed that nothing would happen to him on his night out. Or more importantly that he didn't do anything to someone else. She crawled back into her room and closed her window.

"Who the hell is smoking weed, and why are they not sharing it!" She heard her uncle yell from the hallway. She ran around her room and sprayed perfume before sitting on the floor and finishing her homework.

* * *

Jay walked into his room and stared at his little sister who was wide awake. "Care Bear, are you hungry?" The little girl shook her head and patted the mattress. He sat down and she climbed into his lap. "Are you sure because you haven't eaten since lunch munchkin?"

"Daddy, can I have some juice please?" He sighed at the familiar name and nodded his head. He gently put her down on the bed, brushed her red curls out of her face, and walked down to the kitchen. As he passed his parent's bedroom he could hear quiet sobbing and peeked in to see his mother curled up in the fetal position on her king sized bed, holding what looked like a pillow tightly in her arms. He rolled his eyes and continued on his way downstairs. Once he got to the kitchen he found that there were no juice boxes in sight and cursed his parents for being complete and utter morons who didn't give two shits about their kids. His headache worsened despite the joint he had earlier and he tried to remind himself to buy his little sister some juice the next day. He poured her a glass of water instead and quickly ran back upstairs with the drink.

"Hey Care Bear, we only have water, but it's magical water and everyone in the magic world drinks this water because it makes them strong." Carrie stared at the glass and shook her head. "Come on Carrie, I had to pay a leprechaun with Lucky Charms to get this." Carrie looked up at her brother and then smiled.

"Really?" she whispered. Jay nodded and pinched her cheeks. "Awww Jay Jay." He laughed and handed her the glass, which she drank half of. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. "I'm still sleepy."

"Alright, well do you need to go potty? Because I don't want you to go on my bed." Carrie giggled and shook her head. "Are you sure? Because I'll make you sleep in the drawer from now on if you do." He started to tickle her and she squealed in delight.

"I'm sure!"

"Alright, let's tuck you in then." She crawled into his sheets, which he was sure he'd have to change in the morning because she would pee herself, and he tucked her in. "If anything happens while I go, I want you to go to mom okay. She's not as mean as the ogre." He made a growling noise and she giggled. "I love you Care Bear." He kissed her forehead and she yawned again.

"I love you too." She closed her eyes and he stayed with her until she drifted to sleep. He quickly hustled around, threw on his thick black coat, and turned off the lights. Patting his pocket to make sure he had his wallet, he gave one last glance at the bed and climbed out of the window.

A/N: Thanks to J.G. and G.T. for helping me with this story. I hope you guys are enjoying it and please review if you have the time, if not that's alright but I may cry myself to sleep :P...seriously. Nah I'm kidding.


	4. Chapter 4

Mercedes sat in her bedroom typing away on her laptop. Once in awhile, she would stop to eat a chocolate chip cookie from the plate on the table beside her. She had a ten paged English paper due the next day and she had only managed to finish half of it. It wasn't as if Mercedes didn't enjoy school, because she did, she just found it very difficult to sit down and do homework, when she could be catching up with her favourite shows, or even hanging out with Quinn or Jay. She let out an annoyed sigh as she tried to figure out why she felt that Danielle Steel was by far the most revolutionary author of the twentieth century. Dragging her hand through her long locks, she tried to determine an appropriate way of saying _Her stories make you crave a rich older man and give you feelings in your no no place. But the no no place really should have been called the yes yes place, since that is what most women yell out during good sex._ She rolled her eyes at her own stupidity, shook her head, placed her laptop on her purple bed sheets, and closed her eyes. It was going to be an extremely long night. As she laid on her bed, Mercedes could hear the branches creaking outside her window and a slight smirk pulled at her lips at the familiar light thud on her carpeted floor.

"Hey Jay." She said without even bothering to look over at her best friend. After all the years they had known each other, she didn't even need to look at him to know that his hair was tousled, his pants were ripped, and he probably had a cigarette behind his ear depending on which day it was. When she finally looked over at him and realised she had been right about everything, she smiled. He paced back and forth, while pulling at his hair and her smile faltered. She realised that his eyes were red and his hands were clenched. Something was extremely wrong and she needed to fix it fast. "Jay?..." His name trailed off of her lips as an open question. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and the taller man walked towards her, fell to his knees, and placed his head in her lap. Her hands immediately raked through the soft silky curls piled high on his head and she could see his body shake with tears.

"They won't throw a party for Carrie." He wrapped his arms around her calves and held her tightly. "They won't listen to me...they hate us." He whispered so quietly, Mercedes was almost unable to hear him. "I just want her to feel loved...but they ignore it, they ignore her Mercedes!" His voice rose and Mercedes quietly shushed him. She always knew that he was really upset when he used her full name. But her parent's would kill her if they knew Jay was there that late at night, so she tried her best to defuse the situation.

"Jay, you have to b-be quiet." She lifted his head and looked into his wet blue eyes. Her thumb gently brushed away the stray tears that fell to his cheeks. "We can throw a p-party for Carrie here...how ab-bout that?" He stared into her eyes for a few moments before she watched them crinkle up at the corners. "Yea, we can have b-balloons and cake! I think she'd like that."

"That's a good plan." He quickly stood up and hugged her. She closed her eyes as she took in the familiar smell of his cologne and shampoo. "She's going to love it M!" He exclaimed in hushed tones. His eyes travelled to her laptop and he laughed. "You're not done the assignment yet?" Mercedes sighed and then rolled her eyes. Jay wasn't one to dwell on bad feelings or pain, so she wasn't surprised when he suddenly changed the subject.

"Nope." She scooted over on the bed and placed the laptop back on her lap. Jay immediately sat beside her and stared at it. Mercedes could almost hear the gears turning in his head.

"I finished mine the day he gave it to us." He smiled at her with a smug expression. Luckily for Jay, it had been one of the rare occasions where he had actually endured a class and it had paid off because now he was done. "And I didn't even have to go to school to finish it." He laughed and rubbed his eyes. He could feel a headache coming on. This whole Carrie thing had bugged him immensely, it had been to the point where he hadn't gone out for a few days to have sex and he was starting to crave the feel of a woman's flesh against his own. Mercedes watched as the familiar expression crossed Jay's face. It was a mixture of excitement and lust. It was the look he had before he went on the prowl.

Ever since his grandfather died, Jay had been replacing his hurt with sex. His grandfather had been the most caring and loving father figure that Jay had ever known and Mercedes had ever met. Whenever he saw her, he had made it his mission to make her feel warm and welcomed. Unlike the other Costellas, he had shown Jay what it was like to have family and be loved. Now Jay was determined to teach his little sister the very same thing. Noticing that she was staring at him, he slowly turned his head and his blue eyes raked over her face.

"Jay...d-don't go." Mercedes pleaded quietly. He smiled at the fact that his best friend knew exactly what he was going to go and do.

"I need to M...I need to feel good right now." He got up from the bed and laughed. "Send me your paper. I can finish it for you when I get back home." He knew that she hated his cockiness about being smart, but the truth of the matter was, Jay was highly intelligent. Even if he never acted like it, he knew the school material like the back of his hand. It was how he stayed out of trouble. Jay pinched her cheeks and grinned. "Seeya M." He turned to walk away when she blurted out what was on her mind.

"Why d-don't you ever sleep with me?" He turned to see her staring at the wall instead of him. He felt as if someone had just punched him in the stomach. Jay sat back down on the bed and quietly stared at her. All of his life he had wondered why neither of them had wanted to date each other, but he just figured that their lives were just too different. He tried looking at her to see if he could see her sexually and he surprised himself to see that he could. If he wasn't careful, especially in the state he was in, something could go wrong. Really, really wrong.

Jay took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He tried not to let the panic he felt to be conveyed through his voice. "M...you're special." He took her small hand in his larger ones. "You mean a lot to me...that's why I don't want to sleep with you." He shook his head and the brown curls bounced. "These other women, mean nothing to me...I never call them back." Mercedes rolled her eyes and glared at him. "I'm serious, you and Carrie mean everything to me, you're all I have M...I don't want to talk about this okay?"

Mercedes quickly removed her hand from his own and glared at him. "You just think I'm ugly or something. I thought that you could b-be honest with me since we've known each other forever...b-but I guess not." She pushed past him and got off the bed. "I think you should go now, you're tree is waiting." She walked over to her computer chair and sat down facing away from him. As much as she didn't want him touching her right now, the feeling of his arms wrapped around her upper chest and his head resting on her shoulder was comforting. "Is it b-because of my stutter?" She asked quietly as she hung her head. "B-because I'm getting b-better." A trail of hot tears began to fall down her face. If the person she had known all of her life didn't even want her, then who the hell ever would? She bit down on her lip and tried to control her body from shaking from the intensity of her sobs. All she wanted was to find someone who could look past something that she thought made her more unique. Jay spun her around and tilted her head up.

"You know that's not why" Anger crept into his voice. "Never ever say that again Mercedes." He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sex...sex changes everything and I don't want anything to change between us ever. I want it to always just be you, me, and Carrie...we don't need anybody else. We just need each other...and if we have sex..." He sighed. "The magic will be ruined and we won't be the same MJ. Do you get it?" Mercedes was tired of arguing with someone who didn't want to be with her so she simply nodded her head. Although he didn't want anything to change, his rejection of her advances had hurt her enough to feel awkward and uncomfortable. Jay smiled and squeezed her shoulder. "That's my M." He grinned. "I have to go and get Care Bear something to eat." Mercedes let out a deep breath and wiped her eyes.

"Wait, can you just d-do me one favour?" She looked up at him and stared into his eyes. Jay nervously shifted where he stood and ran his hand through his curls. "Can you...can you come with me to Quinn's p-party this weekend?" She bit her lip and played with the cuticle on her thumb. "It's my first p-party and I d-don't want to go alone." Jay ran a hand down his face and sighed. He hated parties and he hated big crowds, he wasn't exactly claustrophobic, he just didn't like people. "I know they're not your thing, b-but if you came, I'd feel b-better." He closed his eyes for a moment and thought about his options. He could not go and make things worse between them now that they had had this talk about sex, or he could go and try to fix this in the best way that he could.

"I hate parties." He stated rather bluntly. "But for you...I'll be there." He gave her a small smile and pulled her off her seat and into a tight hug. "You're my life M." He said quietly against her hair. "Just remember that." He pulled away from her and headed to the window. He placed one foot on the windowsill and looked back at her before heading into the tree. "You'll always be my life." With that he slid out into the dark night and left Mercedes sitting there by herself. Her eyes wandered over to her laptop. For some reason, writing about an author of love stories no longer appealed to her. She decided to change everything up and write about Stephen King instead.

* * *

Mercedes stood in Quinn's living room and helped her get everything set up for the party. She was quietly placing cups on the table and laying out snacks when Quinn walked up behind her and gave her a side hug. "Cedes, I don't know what I would've done without you." She kissed the girl on the cheek and Mercedes smiled. "I'm so nervous I'm sweatin like a sinner in church...who we called Miss Sarah back in Kentucky." She shook her head. "I swear that woman had more crabs than a seafood restaurant." Mercedes burst out laughing.

"Quinn, you are too much." She went back to setting up the food and the alcohol. "Where are your folks anyways?" Mercedes was terrified that they would get into trouble for getting the booze. Technically her brother had connections and had managed to get them a ton as long as he was allowed to drink as much as he wanted. She still hadn't met this interesting man named Sam and wondered if she ever would at this rate. Quinn shoved some chips in her mouth before answering.

"I guess I should stop eating like this now that I'm going to be a cheerleader..." She drifted off in thought. "Oh they went back to Kentucky for the weekend to deal with some house things." She rolled her eyes. "So now Sam's in charge and he keeps saying stuff like...Quinny take out the garbage, Quinny brush my teeth, Quinny cut my toenails." Mercedes laughed and Quinn smiled. Even though Quinn had joined the dark side and had become a cheerleader, she still stayed by Mercedes side. At first she had been scared that she had not only blown it with Jay, but that now she would be without her new friend. "Your folks are out of town for the weekend too right?" Mercedes nodded and poured herself a cup of punch, she wasn't in the mood to drink and she wasn't very good with holding her liquor.

"Yea, they went to go visit my dad's p-parents with my uncle Kev." She took a sip of the sweet fruit punch and nervously tapped her foot. Quinn laughed.

"I love your uncle Kev, he's a hoot and a half." She tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and stared at Mercedes. "What's wrong?"

The shorter girl stopped tapping her foot and sighed. "Oh...nothing. It's just that Jay said he'd b-be here by now." Quinn put her arm over Mercedes shoulder. She didn't particularly like Jay, simply because he seemed abnormally possessive over Mercedes and whenever she saw him, she could see the anger and jealousy brewing in his eyes. But when Mercedes asked if he could come, she couldn't deny her good friend her request. But a deep part inside of her hoped he wouldn't show up so that Mercedes could actually spread out and have a good time. Quinn thought she was too amazing of a girl to not have more than two friends.

"Well, I'm sure he'll be here at some point. Let's go look through the music again." Quinn moved her arm from her friend's shoulder and walked over to her laptop. She was going to do her best to distract Mercedes from thinking about the curly haired blue eyed man. There was a knock on the door and a look of panic passed between the two friends. "Can we just pretend that we're not here and not do this anymore?" She whispered. Mercedes shook her head, puffed out her chest, and walked over to the door to let fifteen or so people come in. They all walked past her without saying anything and headed straight over to Quinn. Feeling rejected and seeing that Quinn was already starting the party and having a good time, Mercedes slipped out of the house and headed to the backyard. She heard the doorbell ring again and saw about twenty more people from school come in and greet Quinn who was laughing and having an amazing time. Mercedes leaned against a tree and heard rustling above her. At first she began to panic and then she laughed as she looked up to see Jay.

"What are you d-doing?" The boy smiled at her and then jumped down beside her.

"I told you I was coming," He smirked. "Never said I'd come inside." Mercedes laughed and pulled him into her arms and gave him a tight hug. "You okay M?...why are you out here anyways?" Mercedes sighed against his chest and shook her head.

"Quinn's too b-busy to talk with me, so I just came outside to get some fresh air." Jay hugged her back just as tightly.

"Okay, let's go then." He said quickly. Mercedes pulled back from his hold and shook her head. Jay gave her a look of annoyance. "What? I knew she'd bail on you M, just look at her." Mercedes turned around and stared at the blonde socialite who was dancing with a football player in the corner of the room. She didn't want to think of Quinn like that. It was her party and she was allowed to have as much fun as she wanted to. "She's not like us, she doesn't understand what it's like to be different." He glared into the house and tugged at her hand. "Let's go." Mercedes yanked her arm away and shook her head.

"I'm not leaving her Jay. And you p-promised to stay and p-party with me!" She yelled. Mercedes wanted a life, she wanted more friends than Jay and she wasn't going to abandon the only other one she had because her best friend hated people. "We need to get out more and make friends Jay." He rolled his eyes and started to walk away.

"Jay!" she yelled and ran after him. When she caught up to him she grabbed him by the arm. "Stop, p-please d-don't go."

"Mercedes, let go of me!" He yelled loudly at her. She had never heard him yell at her like that before, so she immediately let go. Jay's eyes widened and he rubbed his head. "M...I'm sorry. I just..." Before he could even finish his sentence, Mercedes had shaken her head and turned to walk away. She didn't need this right now. Her best friend of how many years had just let her down twice and on top of that yelled at her. At this point she'd rather just be ignored and invisible than yelled at by people she loved.

She paused for a moment to look at him. "Just go." With that she turned back around and slipped back inside the house. Jay stood outside and bit his lip. He never yelled at Mercedes, but he just couldn't believe she was choosing that Barbie over him. There was never a time where he ever felt more threatened that he'd lose Mercedes from his life. Having already lost his grandfather, he didn't plan on losing anyone else without a fight. He pulled a cigarette out from behind his ear and lit it up before quickly walking away to see if he could find someone to distract him from his hurt.

* * *

Mercedes walked over to the snack table and grabbed three cans of beer before walking over to a corner of the room. She sat down on the floor and opened one. Someone suddenly tapped her shoulder and she looked up to see Quinn. "Cedes, I've been looking all over for you hun, are you okay?" Mercedes mustered up enough energy to smile.

"Yea, just going to have a little drink." Quinn's eyes roamed down at the three cans and she winked at her.

"Alright just be careful." She smiled and disappeared back into the crowd. Mercedes didn't live very far from the Evans, so after she planned to get herself extremely wasted she was going to take a cab home. After four beers and a lot of chips, a very giggly Mercedes stood up slowly and walked over to the kitchen. Unfortunately for her, she had only managed to make herself tipsy but not drunk. Sighing, she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and turned around to walk right into someone.

"Gah, get outta ma way." She hiccupped and tried to move past the stranger. But whoever they were stood firmly in front of her. She looked up and stared into very beautiful green eyes. Her own eyes travelled down to his full pink lips and landed on his broad chest. The taller man smirked at her.

"Well aren't you Miss polite!" He laughed and walked around her to grab a bottle of beer. He put two cans in the recycling and smiled. "This is my fifth one tonight bebe." He smiled as he poured the cold bitter liquid down his throat. Mercedes' jaw dropped as she realised she had finally encountered sex in human form. She continued to open her mouth and close it like a fish as she stared. He raised one eyebrow as he stared back at her and Mercedes realised she was going to have sex with this man right now on the floor. "Are you goin into shock or something, are ya sick darlin'?" She listened to his thick country accent and for the life of her she couldn't remember why it sounded so familiar. It wasn't that she was drunk out of her mind, it was the shock that he was talking to her that was throwing her off.

"I...what...you...d-damn." She spat out and then cursed herself for stuttering. She bit her lip and quickly walked out of the kitchen. What was the point of staying in close proximity with someone who'd never talk to her in real life outside from the booze? She walked over to the refreshment table and drowned her sorrows with punch mixed with vodka. When her buzz returned, she turned around to stare at the same broad chest and her eyes slowly scaled up.

"Pretty lady, why'd ya run so fast?" Mercedes shook her head and burped.

"I d-dunno." She laughed at herself. A part of her hoped that he would think the stutter was the result of her drinking. "Why you walk so slow?" She winked at the man and moved back towards her corner with him following behind her.

"What's ya name pretty young thang?" Mercedes giggled and tried to think about a name that would sound more interesting.

"Lois...Lane." She whispered. "I'm undercover, shh." She put her finger to her lips and laughed her head off. The green eyed man smiled at her with amusement in his eyes.

"Oh really then, well..." he stuck out his hand for her to shake it. "I'm Steve Rogers. I'm a captain." Mercedes eyed the man before she squealed in delight. She wasn't sure why she was acting so idiotic, but she knew it worked for other girls, so it might as well work for her.

"Wow, that's p-pretty awesome." She smiled. "What are you a captain of?" The green eyed man laughed before answering her.

"Um...America." He thought she knew he was fooling around. He didn't realise that the girl in front of him had no idea who the Avengers were, or had never picked up a comic book in her life.

"Oh my God, you're like...the p-president...b-but white." She stated bluntly and yawned. She was tired, booze always seemed to make her that way. "Gotta go Steve." She pushed past him and headed to the door, only to realise she had forgotten her wallet at home. She rolled her eyes and decided to walk. The cool autumn air slowly sobered her up as she began to walk the four blocks home. She could hear someone yelling behind her, but chose to ignore it. She only stopped when the blonde man with green eyes ran in front of her.

"What are you doin" He folded his muscular arms over his chest and Mercedes fought the urge to lick him. "You can't walk home this late at night darlin', it ain't safe." Mercedes puffed out her chest and continued to walk.

"I'm fine." She stopped again when he ran in front of her. "If you keep stopping me, I'll never make it home." 'Steve' laughed and shook his head.

"Fine, if you're gonna be stubborn, I'm just gonna have to walk with ya." Mercedes grinned as she looked at him. She shrugged and the pair walked in silence. However, it was a comfortable silence. She continued to cast quick glances at him and wondered what he looked like underneath the shirt and without the pants. She bit her lip. Mercedes had never thought about sex or being intimate with anyone until recently. She craved the need to feel loved and wanted and since Jay wasn't going to give it to her, she'd have to find someone else. They walked up to her front door and he smiled.

"Okay Lois...be safe now, ya hear." He winked and turned to walk away. Mercedes bit her lip as she watched her opportunity slowly walk away.

"Wait!" She yelled out. "Want to come in?" She knew he was going to say no, but she could at least say she tried. The taller man laughed and nodded.

"Uh, yea, that'd be cool." Mercedes stared at him for a few seconds as she processed the fact that he had agreed to come inside. She quickly turned around and unlocked the door. He walked past her and she got a whiff of his cologne and felt her panties disintegrate. She watched as he looked around and closed the door behind them. He turned around and smiled. "This is a nice..." His words were cut off by her mouth on top of his. The blonde man slightly reeled back from the surprise and then wrapped his arms around her body, pulling her more tightly to him. This was her first kiss and she had no idea if she was doing a good job or not, but she was going to try her damn best. She sucked and bit his bottom lip, which caused him to moan. _So far so good!_ She thought to herself as she pushed him towards the living room. His hands slipped down to her ass and he firmly held the bountiful cheeks. He moved his lips down her chin and to her neck where he sucked and licked the flesh there. She moaned and moved her head back to give him more access. Suddenly he pulled away and stared at her. "You sure you wanna do this?" Mercedes nodded vigorously and kissed him roughly again. She liked the feel of his hands and lips on her body too much for him to stop.

His hands slid down her thigh and moved between her legs to cup her heat. She moaned and spread her legs a little more apart. Feeling exposed just standing in the living room, she decided to break the kiss and dragged him up the stairs to her bedroom. He smirked as he looked around her room and his eyes landed on a pile of stuffed animals in the corner. "Well those are cute." He laughed.

"Less talk, more sexy," She laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. She stood on her tip toes and brought his lips back to hers. He moved back and pulled off his shirt and pants, revealing his Iron Man boxers. Mercedes raised an eyebrow as she wondered if it was normal for a man to wear underwear with another man's face on them. Trying to just enjoy him before her liquid courage evaporated, she pulled off her top. He looped his hands in her belt loops and pulled her to him.

"I'm definitely okay with that darlin'" He smiled and bent his head and sucked on her peak through the cloth of her bra. She tangled her hands in his hair as he moved over to the other chocolate kiss under her bra. He pulled off the red bra and sucked on her breasts like the answer to life was hidden somewhere inside her boobs, her back arched to give him more access. He stood up to his full height, gave her a peck on the mouth, and then pointed to the bed. Mercedes eagerly jumped in and watched as he crawled on the bed and between her legs. He unzipped her pants and pulled them off of her legs, before inching closer to her covered wet entrance. 'Steve' licked his lips and began to lick her in places that she never knew existed. He moved the wet fabric aside and slowly began to circle her bundle of nerves with the tip of his tongue. Mercedes had to cover her mouth from moaning too loudly at the feel of his tongue exploring her. She could now see why Jay liked sex so much, it made you feel insanely good and on the brink. He pulled her boy shorts down and flung them on top of her jeans. She could feel her face get hot as he stared at her half naked body, a part of her wondered if his buzz had worn off and he was regretting his decision. He suddenly smiled and stared into her eyes. "You are fuckin beautiful." He whispered as slid up her body and gently kissed her lips. Mercedes felt electricity shoot through her body at his words. She smiled and flipped him over so that he was lying beside her and she pulled off his boxers and stared at his erection. The thing was huge. She had never seen one outside of physical education class and wondered if they were allowed to get that big. Nervously she stared at him and bit her lip.

"Is...is it going to hurt?" She asked quietly. 'Steve' chuckled and then stared at her terrified expression. A look of worry crossed his face.

"Wait...are you..." His voice trailed off and he muttered. "Shit." He sat up and stared at her. "How old are you?" She sighed and covered her breasts and crossed her legs in embarrassment.

"Seventeen." She whispered quietly and looked at him from the corner of her eyes. 'Steve' shook his head and ran his hand down his face, mumbling something about jail. "I'll b-be eighteen soon." He nodded and looked around the room. "Are you mad...?"

'Steve' slowly shook his head. "Are you a virgin?" He blurted out and Mercedes could feel the heat creep from her neck to her face. She took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay, then I'm mad." Mercedes tried to fight back the tears she could feel threatening to make an appearance. He watched as her body slowly began to shake and groaned. "I'm mad that you'd throw away somethin like that on a guy you hardly know darlin'." He turned her face to look at him. "You're my little sister's age and I'd kill her if she just up and slept with some guy she didn't know. Especially if it was the first time. You see what I'm sayin." Mercedes nodded and he pulled her down to lay by his side. She rested her head on his firm chest.

"D-do you want to leave?" She said it so quietly she wasn't even sure he heard her.

"No, I'll stay." He slowly rubbed her back and held her even tighter. "Just gotta go to the bathroom first." He chuckled and moved from underneath her. "Is anyone home?" Mercedes shook her head.

"It's the second d-door on the left." He nodded and quickly left the room. She waited for a few moments before she heard screaming and yelling. Grabbing the blanket and wrapping it around herself, she ran out in the hallway to see her naked older sister, with a towel pooled around her feet, brandishing a tennis racket over a terrified 'Steve'. Her sister turned around and stared at Mercedes.

"CALL THE POLICE!" she yelled. "TELL THEM WE ARE BEING ROBBED BY MACAULAY CULKIN!" She glared down at the terrified man who was on the ground with his arm trying to protect his face. "Times are hard man, but you cannot be coming up in here trying to rob black people."

"Gabby!" Mercedes finally found her voice and yelled. "He's with me, he came home with me." She looked over his sisters puzzled expression. "Why are you naked?!"

Gabby lowered her arms and stared at her sister in shock. "I was about to shower when I heard someone wash their hands...and...Mercedes why are you trying to sleep with Macaulay Culkin?! He don't have money anymore! He doesn't have a home to be alone in Cedes." 'Steve' tried to stand up and Gabby glared at him. "Listen here Kevin, your mama and John Candy are not coming home to save you, so keep your ass sitting down."

"Gabby, he's not Macaulay Culkin, his name's Steve Rogers. He's a captain." Gabby slowly gave 'Steve' the death glare.

"I was kidding with her! I thought she knew who Steve Rogers was!" He panicked and almost started to cry. "She told me she was Lois Lane, we were just making jokes."

"Listen here Captain Home Alone. Who the fuck are you?"

"My name's Sam, Sam Evans." He held his hands up, palms out in the air. Mercedes felt like the wind was knocked out of her.

"YOU'RE QUINN'S B-BROTHER?!" She yelled. Sam looked at her and then squinted his eyes. A look of horror formed on his face. He closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Shit...you're Mercedes."

"You can just call me your worst nightmare. And I'm about to whoop both of your asses if you don't tell me what's going on. I did not fly four hours on a plane next to a woman who kept farting for this fuckery right now." Gabby put the racket down and stared at the other two naked people in the bathroom. Mercedes knew that this was going to be a long night.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading, sorry this took forever! Let me know what you guys think. Thanks to J.G. and G.T. for your help and support.


	5. Chapter 5

Through Frosted Glass

_One has to lose their sanity, to see the true reality.- Me_

Mercedes rolled her eyes as she quickly made her through the crowded hallway to the girl's bathroom. She could hear his quick footsteps behind her, pushing through people to talk to her. Not wanting to deal with him right now, she sought sanctuary in the only place that she knew he wouldn't be able to go into. Reaching her destination, she ran inside and leaned against the counter top as she bit her lip in frustration. She closed her eyes as she remembered the feeling of Sam's hands and his mouth all over her body. An immediate heat spread from her feet to her cheeks as she imagined being that close to him again. She could still smell him in her bed sheets and a part of her wondered about what he was up to and if she ever crossed his mind. Considering how things had ended between them that night, she figured that he was simply done with the seventeen year old girl with the psycho big sister. A long sigh escaped her lips as she stood there wishing that things could have gone a lot differently. She hadn't even told Quinn what had happened as yet and from the look of things neither did Sam.

The sound of the bathroom door smacking loudly against the wall at a fast pace jolted her out of her thoughts and she stood there staring at her curly haired best friend. "Really M? You thought that hiding in the girl's bathroom would deter me from speaking to you?" He scoffed and gave her an annoyed stare. "_You_ should know better than that." He turned around and locked the bathroom door behind him. Mercedes folded her arms across her chest and glared at the taller man.

"No, I just hoped that you would respect my p-privacy and leave me alone for once." She shook her head. "I gave you too much credit Jay." She looked at the other bathroom stalls and was disappointed to find out that they were alone. Had someone else been in there with them she could have avoided the entire conversation. She just wanted to enjoy her thoughts about the peculiar green eyed blonde man, seeing Jay only managed to upset her.

"You're honestly mad at me because I didn't stick around for that stupid party? It wasn't a big deal Mercedes! We didn't belong there and you should have come with me when I told you to." He walked closer to her, so she backed up. Jay stopped walking towards her and simply stared. Mercedes could see the anger bubbling up under his skin and she knew that when he got like that, things could go badly. Mercedes tilted her chin up as a way of letting him know that she refused to be intimidated by him.

"No it was the fact that you yelled at me and d-ditched me when I needed you that night. That's why I'm mad at you." She looked at her hands to avoid the stare that he was giving her. Jay shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"Is this because I wouldn't sleep with you?" Mercedes' eyes widened and she scoffed. "What? I think it's very convenient that we get into a fight after I told you that I didn't feel it was a good idea for me to sleep with you." He shrugged.

"This has nothing to d-do with that. I needed my family or someone who cared about me to at least b-be there and help like he said he would, b-but no, I had to have a selfish b-best friend who would rather have sex with some stranger than to support me." She fought the urge to break down and cry. She hated when she fought with Jay, it was as if the world had shifted uncomfortably under her feet and everyone would fall off at any point if they made the wrong move. Jay scowled and looked to the side.

"I thought you had your other best friend there." He said almost darkly. "Shouldn't she have been there to make you feel like someone cared?" Mercedes stared long and hard at the man in front of her and ignored the loud banging on the bathroom door. They wouldn't have much time in there before someone called a teacher or a janitor to unlock it.

"You're jealous of Quinn?...is that what this is all about? Your irrational jealousy?" She started to feel her face get hot with anger and she wasn't sure about how much longer she could fight the tears that were beginning to well up in her eyes. "Jay, you need to grow up." The look on his face told her that she had said the wrong thing. She waited for the explosion of emotions.

"You're the only person I have or that I can trust Mercedes. You up and leave me when all I've ever done is be there for you, to protect you, and you abandon me for some blonde twit?" He snarled at her and moved closer to her body which forced her back against the cold tile wall. He put his hands on either side of her head and leaned forward. "Now explain to me how feeling neglected is irrational. When the only person that you have in the world finds a new shiny toy and leaves the reliable old one in the dirt." Mercedes turned her head to the side and resisted the urge to kick him. "Newer toys always get boring and break quickly. _Old toys are always better."_ He leaned close to her face. Mercedes couldn't breathe from the close proximity of his body.

"She's my friend Jay, I'm allowed to have friends who aren't you. B-but you're my b-best friend and I needed you and you weren't there. Quinn tried to b-be friends with you, b-but you thought of her as competition from the very start." She put her hands out and gently pushed his chest so that he would back up. Jay pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He turned to look at the door and quickly walked over and unlocked it. Peering out he signalled for her to leave the bathroom. She quickly moved past him and he caught her by the hand and dragged her outside. Mercedes quickly pulled her hand out of his grasp and stared at him in confusion.

"I was timing the situation. A janitor would have been there soon." Mercedes slowly nodded and wasn't surprised by what he was saying. She was used to Jay just knowing things before they happened. He moved closer to her and cupped her cheek with a strong cool hand. Her smaller hand laid on top of his and she sighed. As her best friend, he knew how to annoy her and he definitely knew how to calm her down. "I'm sorry." He said quietly. "I've lost so much already M, how would I survive if I lost you?" He whispered as he leaned his forehead against hers. All thoughts of Sam Evans exited her mind as she heard the devastation and fear laced in the deep voice. She pulled the curly haired man into a tight hug. He needed an anchor and she would need to be exactly that for him.

"I p-promise. You'll never lose me. B-but I'm still mad at you." She said as she pulled back and squinted at him. "You're not getting off that easy. You still need to fix it." Jay scowled and frowned at her, obviously annoyed that he was going to have to work for her forgiveness. Generally she never stayed annoyed or mad with Jay for long, so this new empowerment was making him uneasy.

"But I said I was sorry." He spoke as if he were a child who had tried to cry to get out of trouble. Mercedes raised her eyebrow.

"I accept the apology. B-but I need more than that." She stood at her full height, which wasn't very much, and held her chin up. Jay scowled at her and she watched as the familiar darkness clouded his clear blue eyes.

"You never needed more before. I don't like what's happening to you." He stepped back from her as if she had burned him. "Fix it. Fix it now." Mercedes didn't have time to deal with him right now. If he wanted to throw a hissy fit then that was his choice.

"I'm growing up Jay." She sighed and looked into the now cold blue eyes. "Maybe it's time that you d-did too." Jay stared at her for a moment, his face turning a slight shade of red, and his lips pressing together into a thin white line. She rolled her eyes and adjusted her backpack on her back as he turned away from her without another word. Her hands clenched into fists and she bit down hard on her tongue to stop herself from calling him back and apologizing. She was tired of feeling like she was a bad friend for simply wanting to talk to other people. Quinn was an amazing person and yes Mercedes had been annoyed with her for being so caught up with the popular kids, but how could Mercedes blame her for wanting to be a part of that group. As much as she loved Jay and wanted to talk to him about everything, she knew that she couldn't tell him about Sam. When it came to Jay, she was never entirely sure what he would do and she was never interested in a boy before who wasn't Jay. The cool autumn wind blew through her hair as she stood on the steps of the school, her eyes closed as she imagined it carrying her away.

A light tap on her shoulder almost made her fall down the stairs from surprise. She turned to look at a laughing Quinn. "Goodness girl, you need to be careful before we have to drag you off to the hospital." She smiled and then her eyebrows furrowed as she studied Mercedes face. A soft hand reached up and brushed away a tear that Mercedes hadn't felt slip from her eyes. She sniffed and rubbed her stinging eyes on her sleeves before Quinn pulled the shorter woman into a tight hug. "It's that blue eyed curly haired devil isn't it?" Mercedes nodded against the girl's shoulder. "What did he do now?" Mercedes pulled back and shook her head.

"I d-don't want to talk about it, if that's okay?" Quinn rubbed her friend's back and nodded. "I just d-don't want to think about him anymore." She was tired of them fighting all of the time, she couldn't recall their relationship being this strained before and it was making her feel nauseous. Quinn wrapped a reassuring arm around her friend's shoulders and guided her down the stairs.

"That's absolutely fine because he gives me the creeps. I caught him just glaring at me the other day and I walked over and smiled widely. He just turned on his heels, muttering Barbie, and walked away." She looked into Mercedes face and smiled. "I definitely think he's into me." Mercedes started to laugh and Quinn laughed along with her. "I thought that'd make you giggle. Now come over to my place, no one is home and we need a break from school." Mercedes thought about what her parents would say when they found out that she skipped school and internally shrugged. She'd just text them that she wasn't feeling well and was going to stay with a friend until she felt better. She slowly nodded her head.

"Are you sure that no one will b-be at your p-place? I just d-don't want to b-bother anyone."A slight panic settled in her chest as she thought about bumping into Sam. If she never saw him again, it would still be too soon. She looked at Quinn and worried about what would happen between them if she ever found out. Mercedes knew that they hadn't known each other for that long, but it would crush her to lose her new friend so quickly.

"Scouts honour that nobody's home because they're at work." She put her hand up in a Vulcan salute and Mercedes raised an eyebrow at her before laughing. Quinn grinned and a blush lit up her cheeks. "Ugh stupid Sam making me a dork like him, he does that salute all the time. Even when it makes absolutely no sense for him to do it." She shook her head. "He could be asking me to pass him the cereal and do it." Mercedes pictured the taller man doing the symbol and she smiled widely.

"Okay. If you're sure, then p-perfect." Mercedes headed to her car and followed behind Quinn to the Evans residence. Right now she just needed a friend and was saddened that Jay wouldn't be the one to comfort her. She put her car into drive and didn't notice the curly haired man leaning against the side of the school trying to fight back his own tears from the feeling that he had just lost the most important person in his life.

* * *

Mercedes parked on the side of the road in front of Quinn's house and followed the blonde girl inside. She looked around for a moment and tried to see if she could hear anyone walking about. When she heard just their movements and nothing else, she let out the breath she had been holding. Quinn turned around and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Mercedes sheepishly shrugged as she was led into the living room. "Are you okay? You're looking a little shifty right now. It's kind of like you're about to go all Jason and kill somebody." Quinn said over her shoulder with a concerned expression. "Because we can just wait until my brother gets home and then you can go ahead." She smiled and Mercedes couldn't help but laugh. She shook her head and told herself to relax. There was nothing to worry about and she was starting to look like an insane person.

"I know, sorry. So what are we going to d-do?" She shoved her hands in her pockets and bit her lip. Quinn walked over to the DVD stand and pulled out three romantic comedies. She grinned at Mercedes and held the movies close to her chest.

"Today we are going to have some girl time. No men allowed in this home until we're done! My dad and Sam won't be home until 8 or so anyways." She shrugged and put the DVDs down. "And I have cookies and cookie dough ice cream! Call the medic because we're about to go into a sugar coma."

"I'm very excited, b-but can I use your b-bathroom first?" She wanted to see how badly she had messed up her makeup from crying. If her mom saw her or even if Gabby saw her, they would know that something was up. Right now Mercedes wanted to keep her pain to herself, she didn't feel like she could talk to anyone else but Jay about it, which was highly ironic.

Quinn nodded and smiled. "Go ahead. Just wiggle the toilet handle and then flush three times." Mercedes stared at her for a moment to see if she was kidding. "Some idiot broke it during the party, it didn't even flush before, but Sam 'fixed' it." The shorter woman laughed and then shook her head.

"Well then, I'll make sure to remember that. It reminds me of a special spy code." She knew it was a nerdy thing to say, but she knew that Quinn wouldn't be someone to judge her.

Quinn grinned. "That's funny. Sam said the same thing." Mercedes smiled and quickly walked up the stairs. She rounded the corner and passed a room with flowers painted all over the door. She quickly peeked in and saw that it was perfect for Quinn. If she had to imagine a room for the blonde woman, that would have been it. Walking more slowly down the hallway, she spotted a door with a Superman painting on it. Her jaw dropped at how perfect it was. She cocked her head to the side and studied it before clueing in that she was standing in front of Sam's semi-opened door. She reached out to open it, but shook her head and put her hand down. Standing there for a moment and realising that Quinn would soon send a search party for her she inched away from the door only to turn back and place her hand on the doorknob. She lied to herself and said that this wouldn't appear stalkerish or creepy at all. She just wanted to know if there were more drawings on the inside walls too. Taking a deep breath she turned the knob only to have the doorknob yanked out of her hand. She let out a bloodcurdling scream that matched Sam's deep one, he clutched his chest and Mercedes jumped back.

"Who opens a d-door like that?!" She yelled at the startled blonde who had his headphones wrapped around his neck. He ran a large hand through his hair and stared at her as if she were insane.

"Everybody opens a door like that! How else can you open a damn door?!" He yelled back at her. Mercedes leaned her back against the wall behind her, her legs were feeling weak from just the sight of him. He was wearing a tight black T-shirt, a pair of dark jeans, and paint was all over his hands. He licked his lips and let his eyes wander over her body. "I didn't mean to scare you darlin' or should I call you Mercedes?" She bit her lip and shrugged.

"It d-doesn't b-bother me, you can call me whatever I guess." She cursed her stutter more than ever before as she nervously stumbled over her words. Her eyes scanned his face to see if he was laughing at her and saw that he simply looked amused.

"All right, how about I call ya Mercy?" She felt the familiar flush creep into her cheeks and nodded. "Okay, good." They both heard the hesitant footsteps running up the stairs towards them and looked over to see a worried Quinn step on to the landing. "Well hey there baby sis." Sam smiled brightly at his younger sister who was staring between the two with a concerned expression. "Now this reminds me, why are you two here? On a school day too?" He folded his arms over his chest and Mercedes couldn't help but stare at the bulging biceps.

"Why are _you_ here? You're supposed to be at work." She said in confusion as she looked at him. Mercedes saw her eyes squint and could tell that the Quinn was thinking. "You two were talking up here and yelling. Do you know each other?" Mercedes quickly shook her head no.

"No."

"Yes." Sam answered cheerfully much to Mercedes dismay. She laughed awkwardly.

"I've seen him b-before somewhere, b-but I d-don't know him." She said quickly and Sam stared at her like she was insane and he was apparently not picking up any of her cues. Mercedes fought the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. "I have no idea who you think I am. B-but we have never met."

"Of course you know me, I am Sam, Sam I am. But I don't eat green eggs and ham because that just means that the food moulded and that's gross." Mercedes stared hard at Sam, she didn't even want to see the expression on Quinn's face at that moment. She was hoping if she stared hard at him enough he would slowly begin to hear her thoughts and hear the subtle SHUT UP that she was yelling at him. "Is there somethin in your eye Mercy?" _Lord have mercy_, Mercedes all about threw her hands up in the air at his use of a nickname for her which would obviously indicate that they were familiar with each other.

"What is going on?! You guys are weirding me out right now." Quinn put her hands on her hips and scowled. Mercedes let out a long sigh as she thought up a half-truth.

"Okay we met at your p-party, I said some weird things while I was drunk, and I was embarrassed to admit that it all happened." She looked at Quinn with a sad expression. "I just wanted to forget that it _all_ happened." She emphasized the word all and looked at Sam who appeared to have finally understood the message. His eyes widened and then a look of sadness crossed his face which made Mercedes heart squeeze for a moment. She hadn't realised that it would bother him, if anything she thought it would be something he had wanted. Quinn rolled her eyes and laughed before lightly smacking Mercedes' arm.

"Oh you, was that what it was?" She giggled and shook her head as Mercedes laughed along with her, not exactly knowing why. "That's cool everybody does it. Sam does it all of the time." She looked at her older brother and Sam gave a quick uncomfortable nod.

"That's right. Well I'll be needin to be getting back to my paintin then." He turned around, walked into his room, and firmly closed the door. Mercedes stared at it for a moment and willed him to come back outside and speak to her, but she knew she had messed up. Biting her lip and trying to fight back the ever increasing sadness, she plastered on a smile and looked at Quinn. The blonde was looking at the door in slight confusion before shaking her head.

"He's acting weirder than normal today. He probably met someone, he always gets that way when he does." She shrugged and then whispered. "That boy falls in love as much as he blinks." She laughed and guided Mercedes down the stairs to continue their girl time. When Quinn left her to go get some more snacks from the kitchen, she let out a long sigh. Today was not her day for having good relations with men. Through the duration of the films Mercedes pretended that she was fine and only glimpsed Sam for a minute as he walked past them to get something from the kitchen. He didn't even bother looking at her the entire time that he was downstairs with them. She tried to shake it off and pretend that she wasn't upset, but the quick glances that Quinn was throwing her way, showed her that she was unsuccessful with her attempts. This was the third movie they had watched and none were making her feel any better. Suddenly, Quinn turned off the movie while it was still playing and turned to look at Mercedes.

"Stop thinking about him or just tell me what happened between you two." Mercedes slightly panicked. Had it been that obvious that she was staring at Sam? She had tried to only look at him when he walked by, she hadn't even stared at the kitchen like her eyes wanted to do. "What happened with Jay?" Quinn asked delicately and Mercedes almost laughed in the other girls face. She had completely forgotten about Jay. The realisation made her feel worse.

Mercedes shook her head. "I need to go home Quinn. B-but I promise that we'll talk about this later." Quinn slowly nodded, but the look of concern remained on her face until Mercedes leaned over and gave her a quick hug. "I'll b-be fine. I p-promise." This seemed to do the trick as Quinn's face lit up and she gave her a half smile. "I need to go," Mercedes stood up and smiled apologetically. She had really appreciated Quinn's efforts to make her feel better, but right now she felt like being alone would be the best thing for her. It would give her the time to sort out her feelings and maybe she could even manage to do some homework.

"Okay. But you have my number, so call if anything." Mercedes nodded and walked to the door with Quinn in tow.

"I will, thank you." She stepped out into the cool fall evening and listened as the door closed behind her. She paused in front of her car and looked back at the window that she now knew belonged to Sam. She could vaguely see him playing air guitar by the window and couldn't help but laugh at his insanity before she slipped into her car and drove home.

* * *

She quietly slipped past her parent's who were in the living room, ran up the stairs, and was about to turn into her room when she heard someone kissing their teeth to the right of her. She sighed and turned her head to look at her uncle Kevin. "Mhm, you thought you were just going to sneak in did you? I am the po po of this house Mercedes, NOTHING gets by uncle Kevin. You doing drugs? Do you have some on you?" He looked at her backpack and Mercedes rolled her eyes.

"No uncle Kev. I am not d-doing drugs." She placed her hand on her hip. "Are _you_ d-doing drugs? B-because don't think I forgot the time you were b-babysitting me and I asked you what you were d-doing and you said smoking b-basil leaves."

Uncle Kevin's eyes widened and he quickly looked around and put his finger up. "Hush your face, just hush it. Don't you be black mailing me woman. I _AM_ A BLACK MALE! You don't say anything and I didn't see you sneak in here with your non-sick behind." He turned away and mumbled. "Black people these days, can't catch a damn break. Just look at Obama, he half black and has not caught a break for four years!" He walked into the bathroom and all Mercedes could do was shake her head before entering her room and sitting on her bed. She pulled out her textbooks and was startled to feel her pocket buzzing. When she pulled out her phone she saw that the number was unknown and hesitantly answered.

"Hello?" She heard silence for a moment and wondered if she was being prank called again like she used to be when she was younger. She was about to roll her eyes and hang up when she heard it.

A man cleared his throat. "Um, is this Mercedes Jones?" Mercedes felt panic settle in her chest. Was something wrong, was Jay okay?

"Yes...this is Mercedes." She said nervously. "Is something wrong? Who is this?"

"Sorry didn't mean to scare ya. Just makin sure that it was actually you and not some other Mercedes in my sisters phone book." Mercedes paused for a moment and then recognized Sam's deep voice. "Well how are you doin?" Her eyes widened and her mind went blank. "It's Sam Evans. Also known as Steve Rogers. Bad joke, forget I said that last part. But don't forget the Sam Evans part because I am Sam Evans. Not Steve Rogers."

"Um." Was all she managed to say as she flailed in excitement. "I'm cool." She tried to rack her brain for more things to say but she just wanted to listen to him talk for hours if she could. "And you?"

She heard a slight laugh. "In my head I expected you to talk more. I also thought you'd hang up too, so I guess I was wrong. I'm good. I wanted to know what you were doing on Friday?" Mercedes got up from her bed and walked to her chair, sat down, and faced her door. She was trying to process what he was asking her and knew that he couldn't be asking her what she thought he was asking.

"Um. Nothing, I might just stay home and d-do some homework. Why? What are you d-doing?" She bit her lip and tried not to giggle like an insane person.

"Well...I wanted to go out with a pretty lady, but I can't tell if she's interested. Maybe you can help me out." Mercedes felt her smile fall. She thought it was extremely awkward that he would call her for some girl advice.

"Oh. I'm sure Quinn could be better help. I don't really know how to read people." She sighed. "Sorry." She heard the loud laugh on the other side of the phone and scowled. She didn't find anything remotely funny.

"Alright so trying to be cute won't work here. Got it. Mercy I want to go on a date with you on Friday, if you're interested." Mercedes felt her breath catch in her throat and she started to laugh too. "Well ouch."

"No no! I mean yes yes! I will go. I'm sorry, I'm not very good at this." She could feel herself blushing. She thought she heard a noise but was drawn back into the conversation. "So what d-did you have in mind?" She could hear Sam smiling through the phone by just the way that he spoke to her.

"Dinner was my aim if you're okay with being with me at night? I promise to be the utmost gentleman you have ever met." Mercedes smiled and nodded at the phone.

"I b-believe you. I've already seen you b-be a perfect gentleman." She grinned. "I'd like that."

"Perfect darlin' I will be by to get you at 7." His husky voice almost made her turn into a pile of goo.

"Okay. See you then. Oh and you're creepy for going through your sisters phone." She laughed.

"Well, since you don't want her to know what happened between us. I thought asking her would be pretty weird, so I just took it when she went to trim her nose hair or whatever she does in the bathroom." Mercedes laughed.

"Okay. Smart. Well I need to go. Goodnight Sam." She smiled widely. Not wanting to end their conversation but knowing that she needed to do her work and possibly twerk in excitement.

"Night Mercy." She waited for him to hang up before twirling around in her computer chair in excitement. When she had made a full circle and was facing the door she slowly turned around in her chair and stared at the blue eyed curly haired man whose face was full of anger. Her eyes widened as she watched her best friend stand up from his seat on the windowsill.

"Who the hell is Sam?"

A/N: Sorry that this took so long as well! Hope you enjoy it, OOOOOOO cliffy, buahaha. Thanks to JG and GT for their help and guidance. Couldn't have done it without you lovelies. AND THANKS TO EVERYONE STILL READING and for showing your interest in the story.


	6. Chapter 6

Through Frosted Glass

_One has to lose their sanity, to see the true reality.- Me_

A/N: Gawd sorry it took forever and sorry that it's short, I was supposed to have this out months ago, like right after the last chapter so I didn't plan for it to be long. I'm done what I've been busy with this past month, so hopefully I can get the next chapter out a lot sooner. Maybe even tomorrow if I feel up for it, please review if you do have the time, I really enjoy reading your thoughts about this story. Thanks to JG for all of your support and help. This is a continuation chapter btw.

* * *

Jay sat quietly on his bed, threw a tennis ball against the opposite wall, caught it with one hand, and continued to repeat the action. His mother stormed into his room and told him to knock it off, but he simply rolled his eyes and ignored her. She reached out, grabbed the ball in mid air, and glared at him.

"What is the matter with you? Do you not have any ounce of respect in that ignorant body of yours? I TOLD YOU I HAVE A MIGRAINE! Do you know _why_ I have a migraine Jason?!" She stared at him pointedly as he continued to ignore her and stare at the wall that he had been throwing the ball against. "Because I have to go to work and deal with moronic men like you every single day Jason, I do it because I need to put food on this table and feed you because you are still our legal responsibility for one more year. And you better believe that I am counting down every single day until you turn eighteen." She placed her hands firmly on her hips and scowled at him. "Now as a gentleman, you owe me an apology. I will not leave until I get one." She tapped her foot on the floor and folded her arms over her chest as the minutes dragged on. Jay continued to blink and sit quietly on his bed before he finally sighed and turned to look at her.

"Mother…" he started out slowly and she cocked her head to the side as she waited for the rest of the apology. " I am extremely sorry that you are a low down bitch who fucking gives no shits about anyone or anything else that exists in this household." He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up to his full height of six feet and moved uncomfortably close to her. "I'm sorry that you are a decaying old hag that maybe was actually pretty a long long long long time ago….I'm sorry that you don't see how lucky you were that someone even _wanted_ to marry and have kids with you even if he's as much of a bastard as you are." He continued to move into her personal space and forced her backwards towards his open bedroom door as she sputtered and cringed at him as if in pain. Jay reached down and grabbed the ball out of her hand. "I'm sorry that you will never be able to look pass your vanity and selfishness to see how amazing Carrie is….." He paused and leaned in dangerously close, "and when you finally do, I hope that she's free from you forever." His mother paled, let out a strangled cry, brought her fist to her mouth and fled down the hallway to her room. Jay stood there and waited for the loud slam of the door before he inched out and walked down the hallway towards Carrie's bedroom.

He peeked in through the semi-open door and saw that the little red headed girl was colouring in her Barbie book. He slipped inside and peered down at her as she carefully stayed within the lines, which he had to admit was impressive at her age. He took a few deep breaths and calmed himself down before sitting down in the rocking chair in the corner of the room and watched at her. She slowly looked up and brushed the red hair out of her eyes, before placing the crayon she was holding down, and stood up. He opened his arms to her and she quickly hopped over and climbed into his lap. He held her close to his body and leaned his head against the top of hers. "Daddy…" she said quietly. "You were really mean to mommy…I heard you." He sighed and closed his eyes.

"Care Bear…it's big people stuff that you won't understand right now, but when you're older you'll get it." She looked up at him with big blue wise eyes; they reminded him of his grandfathers and often unnerved him when he looked into hers. He looked away from her and bit his lip. The last thing that he wanted to do was get her upset, especially with her heart condition. "Okay…I'll apologise to mommy if that's what you want okay?" She smiled and giggled before sliding off of his lap and wandered back over to her picture to finish it. He slowly stood up and ruffled her red hair before walking out of her room to his mother's down the hall. He raised his hand to knock but heard the loud sobs through the wooden door. Jay closed his eyes and sighed, as much as he wanted to hate his mother, he didn't and it did bother him to be mean to her, but he couldn't stop himself when she got on him like that. He leaned forward and placed his head against the cool wood, unsure of what to do. The curly haired man decided that he would let her cry it out and then talk to her about it when she cooled down. He walked away from the door and stepped back into his bedroom.

Carrie's birthday was getting closer and he needed to plan out that party for her, since no one else would. He would need to figure out who her little friends were at school. A pounding headache inside of his head was hurting his eyes and he found it very difficult to think. Even though he knew that Mercedes was still angry with him and that they weren't exactly on good terms, he knew that she loved Carrie as much as he did and would want to help him plan things out. He ran a hand through his thick hair and stared out of the window into the pitch black bedroom across from him. Silently he stood and waited for what felt like forever before he saw his best friend walk into her bedroom and move over to her bed. He grinned in excitement to see her, he felt some of the weight lift off of his shoulders, and the headache began to lessen a bit. He would let her settle in for a few moments as he looked around his room and threw on a grey sweater over his t-shirt. Jay turned off his bedroom light and climbed into the big tree between their houses when he suddenly heard giggling come from Mercedes bedroom. He paused for a moment wondering if she had company and tried to decide if he should come back at another time. Peering into her room he saw that she was on the phone and his eyebrow rose.

He hesitantly slipped into her room and sat down as quietly as he could on the windowsill. Deep down Jay understood that this was an invasion of her privacy, but he couldn't move past the fact that someone who wasn't him was making her giggle like that. He assumed that maybe she was talking to Quinn, but quickly learned as he listened to her conversation that he was incorrect.

"No no! I mean yes yes! I will go. I'm sorry, I'm not very good at this." She said as her back faced him as she sat on her computer chair. His blue eyes narrowed as he tried to piece her conversation together. "So what d-did you have in mind?" Her voice had softened and Jay could tell that she was trying her best to flirt with whoever was on the other line.

"I b-believe you. I've already seen you b-be a perfect gentleman." Jay scowled and rolled his eyes. He had been the perfect gentleman for years and he couldn't recall her ever praising him for that. He could feel his face getting hotter as the anger inside of him began to swell. "I'd like that."

"Okay. See you then. Oh and you're creepy for going through your sisters phone." She laughed and Jay balled his fists as his curiosity steadily grew alongside his irritation of not knowing about what was going on. He knew everything about Mercedes and he should have known if she had had her eye on someone in school.

Mercedes laughed. "Okay. Smart. Well I need to go. Goodnight Sam." _Sam? Who in the fuck is Sam? Sam, Samuel, Samson?_ He pushed through his headache and tried to think if they had any boys at the school named Sam. _Samantha?_ He wondered if Mercedes had decided to go another route in her life, but then remembered that she had called the individual a gentleman and his anger returned tenfold. Jay watched as she quickly spun her chair around with a big smile on her face and then watched her spin around a second time but at a slower pace and with no smile as she stared at him in shock.

He quickly stood up from his seat on the windowsill and moved towards her. "Who the hell is Sam?" He asked calmly even though he knew his body language suggested something completely different. Mercedes snapped out of her shock and rolled her eyes as she quickly got out of her chair. She placed her hands on her hips and tried to control her own anger that was growing as she glared at her best friend. She was appalled and embarrassed that he would eavesdrop on a private conversation and then have the nerve to think he deserved an answer to such an invasive question.

"Excuse me?" She folded her arms over her full chest and scoffed. "I'm sorry, who the hell are _you_ coming into my room without b-being invited or even knocking." Jay rolled his eyes and moved closer to her. Mercedes put her hand out. "Stop coming closer to me or you're not going to like what will happen to you if you continue to invade any more of my p-personal space." She was fuming and a part of her just wanted to tell him to get the hell out.

"I came in through the window, so why would I knock? And I've been doing it for years, so why is that an issue now?" He challenged her and folded his arms across his own muscular chest as he glared at her. Realising that he was in the wrong he closed his eyes and sighed. "Fine I won't come any closer to you and I'm sorry for invading your space, I just came over here to talk to you about Care Bear…then heard you on the phone. I'm seriously sorry." He said apologetically. Mercedes tried her best to stay angry, but could feel herself growing calmer as he spoke. She knew he was being sincere and it annoyed her to no end, she just wanted to punch him and hug him all at once.

She sighed. "What about Care B-bear?" She finally spoke and sat down on her bed. Jay grinned and sat down on the computer chair. "Is everything okay?...d-did something happen today?" She gave him an odd look and he shook his head in confusion.

"No. Why what would happen? Her heart's alright, I just need to make sure she's not bouncing off of the walls and stuff." Mercedes slowly nodded and shrugged, before she sighed and rubbed her face.

"Nothing, Jay sorry, just…a very long d-day." He moved over to sit on the bed and placed his hand on her shoulder, rubbing it lightly as he wasn't sure about how much she would allow him to touch her. She looked at him and smiled. "You can hug me…if you want to." He nodded and pulled her against him. Mercedes sighed and held on to him tightly as she fought back tears that were simply overwhelming her. She had gone through over fifty different feelings in a span of a day and she was emotionally exhausted. The tears began to fall from her eyes despite her efforts and she grumbled in frustration. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm even crying right now." She sniffed and Jay lifted her face up towards his and kissed her eyelids lightly. She sighed as she held on to him even tighter as his lips ghosted over her face. He kissed her tear streaked cheeks before wiping away the rest of the falling tears. Gently, he kissed the tip of her nose and then moved down to her chin. Jay wanted to make her feel happy, he wanted to make her feel good, but he knew deep down that he was destructive and that he could never give her the happiness that she would eventually want and need. Her eyes were closed and she looked as if she was waiting for something, his eyes zoned in on her full mouth and he pressed a light kiss to her lips and watched as her eyes fluttered open for a brief second before she tried to deepen the connection. Jay panicked, pulled back, and kissed her forehead.

"M….I…."He tried to explain and she shook her head in frustration and sadness.

"I almost had sex with Sam, I met him at a p-party while I was slightly drunk and we almost had sex."She blurted out quickly. She couldn't keep it in anymore, she never kept anything from Jay and she didn't want to start now even though the results could be disastrous. "He's an amazingly sweet guy and he stopped it all before anything happened….he wanted to take care of me, p-protect me I guess." Jay let go of her body as if she were on fire and jumped up. She watched as the dark look entered his eyes and braced herself for whatever it was that she had just unleashed.

"How the hell could you do that!?" He roared. "Don't you have ANY feelings of self worth?! What is wrong with you?!" He towered over her as she cradled her head in her hands. Jay could feel his headache roaring back to life and he stomped around the room in a blind rage and clenched his fists.

"You d-d-o the same thing! How c-can you of all p-p-people JUDGE ME WHEN YOU'RE A FUCKING MAN WHORE!?" She screamed back and ran at him smacking him anywhere that she could. She was angry and she was hurt and she felt judged.

"I don't give a shit about me, I'm nothing okay?! You got that?! I'm fucking nothing and you're worth something and you just throw it away because you want dick! What the fuck is the matter with you!? What if he had diseases?!" He held her wrists tightly so she kicked him as hard as she could and connected with his shin. Jay yelped in pain and stepped back from her when uncle Kev and her parents rushed into her bedroom. Mercedes was fuming and her body was shaking with her rage and Jay's face was beet red as he tried to reign in his anger.

"What in the sweetest of Jesus' is going on in here, boy I TOLD YOUR ASS THAT YOU DO NOT LIVE HERE!" Uncle Kev yelled and walked right up to Jay. "Madea might've shot Tupac, but who you think got Biggie, punk?!" Jay narrowed his eyes at the shorter man and moved towards him. "Don't be walking up on me man, don't do it."

"Mercedes what is going on in here?" Her mother walked up to her daughter and turned her face to look at her. "Baby, what's going on?" Mercedes' father moved in between his brother and Jay and placed his hand on the younger man's shoulder.

"Son you need to leave." Jay clenched his fists and glared at uncle Kev before finally looking at Mr. Jones and nodding. He had a lot of respect for her father and often wished that he could have been his father instead of what he had ended up with. Mr. Jones had always been kind to Jay and had let him come over and talk to him whenever he needed an adult's opinion or advice. He could hear Mercedes crying again as she spoke to her mother and he glanced over at her quickly. "Let her cool down." Her father said to him quietly as he escorted Jay out of the room and down the stairs.

"Man, he's lucky that Gavin got all up in here before I climbed him like a tree and knocked him the hell out. Acting like he want to go night night or something. Oh I'd put his ass to sleep, call me chloroform cause I'd knock him the fuck out."

"Kevin!" Dana Jones scolded her brother in law. Gavin Jones shook his head as he walked Jay to the door and pat him on the back.

"I don't know what happened, but I better not find out you hurt her or something." Jay tried to speak but Gavin put his hand up. "I trust you and I know that you have protected my daughter for a very long time and I know things have been really really hard for you after everything that's happened with your family." A sad look crossed his eyes. "But you can't lose it young man, you need to keep going. Move past all of that." Jay nodded. "Okay, head home now." He gave him a small smile before closing the front door. Jay stared up into the night sky, fighting his own urge to cry. He looked at the front door for one last minute before he turned and wandered away in search of something or someone that could take away the pain that he felt resonating through his body.


	7. Chapter 7

Mercedes braced her back against the wooden headboard of the Queen sized bed and closed her eyes so that she wouldn't cry in front of the blonde sitting beside her. She was extremely frustrated about the fight that had happened the night before with Jay and she felt like everything was simply falling apart for her. Quinn sat beside her on the pink flowered bed. She had invited Mercedes over to her place the moment she had seen her face that morning at school, the poor girl looked absolutely exhausted. The blonde leaned her head against Mercedes and held the shorter woman's hand in her lap. She didn't even have to ask her friend what was the matter, the only thing that seemed to make Mercedes unhappy was her so-called best friend Jay. If Quinn had it in her power she would keep the curly haired blue eyed jerk away from Mercedes, she thought that she deserved better, more supportive friends. Mercedes took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand. She shook her head as if it would cure her from her frustrations.

"Cedes, why do you let that boy mess with you the way that he does? Don't get me wrong, I know ya'll are best friends but...there needs to be a line drawn somewhere hun." The blonde spoke with her southern drawl casually slipping out from time to time. It made Mercedes smile as she pictured Sam and his more exaggerated way of speaking. A long shaky sigh slipped out from her lips as she tried to figure out a way to explain the unusual bond she had with Jay. Sometimes she wondered why she found it so difficult to let him go, but realised that she needed him just as much as he always seemed to need her. "I mean, he's alright looking aside from those crazy eyes and his tendency to stare at people like they're gum between his toes, but sweets you need to swat him away like a dirty old fly at a picnic." Mercedes laughed at the visual and shrugged.

"Jay...Jay means well, I mean he was yelling at me b-because I got involved with a guy I d-didn't know and he wanted to p-protect me I guess."She opened her eyes and squeezed Quinn's hand. "He's not a b-bad guy and he means well, he just d-doesn't understand love and has trouble showing it...he's lost a lot of p-people in his life and he's trying not to drown." She turned her head to look at Quinn. "I can't let him drown...I just can't. He's always been there for me and that was his way of showing me that he loves me and cares." Quinn moved on the bed so that she was facing Mercedes and not sitting beside her anymore.

"Woman, what you're explainin sounds like abuse or something, it's not healthy and you need to cut the apron strings, you are not his mother, his grandmother, his girlfriend, he is not _your_ responsibility." Mercedes shook her head, she knew that Quinn wouldn't understand. The blonde could already see that she was making absolutely no progress with the woman in front of her and she didn't want to have to see something really bad happen to Mercedes before she finally realised what Quinn had been saying all along.

"We're responsible for each other, he will always b-be b-by my side and I need to b-be b-by his." She shrugged. "It's hard to b-believe it but Jay would rather die than ever hurt me." If Mercedes was sure of anything, it was that. As much as Jay looked insane to other people, he did have a large heart and without her with him, she didn't even know what would happen. From the very beginning from their first meeting he had done his best to keep her safe, to make her feel loved, how would she ever forgive herself for leaving him after all of that?

Quinn gave Mercedes a deeply worried expression and wondered if she should call Mercedes' sister at college and have her level her out or something. Yet, at the same time she was scared of going over Mercedes head and losing the one good friend she had made so far. "Fine...what were you guys arguing about anyways?" Mercedes shifted uncomfortably on the bed and averted Quinn's eyes. Quinn raised an eyebrow and leaned forward. "Was it about me?" Mercedes shook her head no and bit her lip.

"I was on the phone talking to a guy and Jay eavesdropped on the conversation. He d-didn't like that I wouldn't tell him who I was talking to." She said quickly praying that Quinn didn't ask her who she was speaking to as well. She wasn't sure if she could handle telling Quinn about her upcoming date with her older brother.

"Are you freakin kidding me, first of all why was he eavesdroppin on a damn conversation that had nothin to do with him in the first place? Why does he think he can make any demands from you? I swear if I could just get my hands on him...I would beat him until his curls turned straight." Quinn was furious about the situation and wanted to give Jay a piece of her southern mind. "Who was it that you were talking to anyways?" She wanted to know out of curiosity, but wouldn't have pressed Mercedes to tell her if she didn't want to. Mercedes shifted again on the bed and prepared herself to tell the truth, she hoped that the results wouldn't be too bad, who knew maybe Quinn would be okay with it. She looked towards the open door as a way of not seeing Quinn's expression when she told her.

"Uh...Sam." She said slowly. Quinn looked puzzled.

"Sam?" Just then tall blonde man walked by Quinn's open door towards his bedroom.

"SAM! HEY SAM!" Mercedes yelled out and the blonde man moonwalked back to the room. "Sorry I saw him and got d-distracted." She said quickly with an awkward laugh.

Quinn turned to look at her brother and rolled her eyes. "Oh! You _saw_ Sam...I thought you were on the phone with him...that woulda been ew" She laughed and looked back at Mercedes. "We'll talk more about this later." Mercedes laughed along with her.

"Oh ew, yea no! How insane would that be?! Right?" She laughed awkwardly as Sam stared at them in confusion. His eyes landed on her and he winked. Mercedes' eyes widened and she smiled warmly back at him.

"You ladies rang?" Quinn looked back at her brother and hopped off of the bed. "What you want Quinderella, there ain't no fairy godmother here to make you look good and send you to the ball of the nerds." Quinn sarcastically laughed and pinched her brother's arm hard. "Ow woman, I bring you food and this is how ya treat me squirt?"

"Yea, because you act like a fool most times and if you don't bug me now you will later. But thanks for bringin food home." She turned to Mercedes, "Are you hungry?" Mercedes shook her head and the blonde woman smiled back, "Okay, I'm goin to go check out what he brought, be right back." She turned to her brother and poked him pointedly in his chest. "Don't bother her." She stepped out of the room and Sam stood there listening for a second before he plopped down on the mattress beside Mercedes.

"Howdy sugar pie honey bunch," He said quietly as Mercedes looked at him and bit her lip. The man was absolutely delicious in his dark blue jeans, black tank top and red plaid button down shirt on top. "You excited for Friday?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her and Mercedes couldn't help but giggle.

"Yea I am, are you going to try and b-bail on me?" She was partially kidding, but was still worried that this was all a dream and that he was going to burst her bubble. He looked hurt by her question and shook his head.

"Hell nah, why would I do something as stupid as that? Your sister almost beat me to death, so I ain't turnin back now, I've worked too hard to get ya." He grinned and kissed her on the side of her mouth. "Sorry, couldn't help it, your lips look delicious, and if I recall they taste like honey." Mercedes rolled her eyes and laughed.

"You're such a smooth talker Mister Evans." She couldn't deny that it was having an effect on her. "Those are very d-dangerous men from what my mom tells me." Sam put his hand on his chest and looked genuinely surprised and insulted.

"I am simply a southern gentleman who has my eye on a beautiful lady. I am in no way dangerous I promise you and if I must meet your mama and let her see for herself, then I will." He smiled genuinely and brushed his shoulder against hers. "I'll keep you safe on Friday, well to the best of my abilities." She turned her face towards his and noticed how close they were to each other. Her eyes wandered down to the pink smooth lips. She slightly leaned in towards him and he did the same when they heard footsteps running up the stairs. "Dangit!" Sam quickly rolled off of the bed and dropped to the ground as Quinn entered the room. He started to do push ups and groaned as if he had been doing it for a long time. "...thirtttty eight, see it's all in the technique Mercy." He stood up and Quinn rolled her eyes at Mercedes as she handed her a sandwich. Mercedes tried her best not to laugh at the scene.

"Can you leave now sasquatch?" Quinn shook her head and laughed.

"Damn you're so uppity. But alright, alright, I'll let you girls talk about the boys you like." Mercedes almost choked on her sandwich at his statement. "Or choke on sandwiches, whatever ya'll females do." He grinned and headed towards the door, but not before mouthing the words 'call me' to Mercedes over his sister's head. She nodded quickly and he smiled before he turned around and walked into the door. "Did ya'll see that?" He turned to the girls. "I nearabout broke my nose. Who put this wall here?" Quinn and Mercedes stared at him for a few seconds before they both burst out into loud laughter. Sam narrowed his eyes, "Horrible people," and walked out with his bruised dignity. Mercedes couldn't wait to spend some alone time with him where they could finally feel free to be themselves.

* * *

Jay absentmindedly watched as Carrie played at the foot of his bed. He had made her dinner already, so he knew that she was fine and content for the time being anyhow. He was just going to let her play with her dolls until she fell asleep. His body was itching to get out and meet someone, he needed a release from the anger and sadness that he felt pent up inside of him. His mind wandered to the night before and he took a deep breath as he relived the anger and hurt he had seen in Mercedes' eyes, he never wanted to be the one to make her feel like that. He closed his eyes as he silently thought about everything, only to feel a sharp tug on his hand. His eyes opened and he stared at the red haired little girl who was staring at him. "Daddy, why are you sad?" She asked in her quiet childlike innocence. Jay sighed and opened his arms for her to move towards him and lean against his side.

"I messed up Care Bear...I wanted to protect M, and only ended up hurting her more." She snuggled underneath his arm and Jay held her closer. "She's...talking to strangers who could hurt her. Remember what I taught you about strangers Care Bear. They're all bad people." He rubbed his forehead as a knot of tension built up around his eyes, he was going to need a joint very soon. "I think I'm just going to leave her alone and let her do whatever the hell she wants." He said more to himself than anything.

"But daddy, you can't do that. You have to protect her like the hero's on tv who wear those funny suits and have swords to fight!" She said excitedly and Jay couldn't help but laugh at his little sisters observations. "She's a beautiful princess and you're the night time in tin foil who has to save her daddy." Jay couldn't help the snort that escaped his nose.

"Care bear I think you mean, knight in shining armour." He laughed and the little girl smiled triumphantly that she had made him feel better. He mulled over his sister's advice and realised that she was right, it was his duty to keep Mercedes protected and safe and he would only be able to do that if he stayed close to her and watched what she did. He had left her once and she had been snatched up by some dude who probably didn't care about her. The headache pounding in his head worsened and he rubbed a cool hand over his face. "I need to go out kiddo, how about you sleep with mom tonight okay?" The little girl looked at him in confusion and then stared at the door.

"No, I don't wanna. She's always grinchy and never gives me kisses anymore." Jay sighed and moved off of the bed. "Please can I stay here, I like it here a lot better." She pouted and her older brother didn't have the heart to send her away. Her lip began to tremble and Jay quickly gave her a hug.

"Calm down Carrie, you know it's not good when you get upset." He lightly tapped the space over her heart. He wiped the tears that had already trickled down her cheeks. "If you're really good, I'll tell you all about the surprise I have planned for you soon. But you need to be a good girl okay?" Carrie clapped excitedly as she laid down on the bed.

"Really?!" She squealed and Jay could only laugh as he listened to her.

"Yes, really really, now lie down and play." He handed her one of her dolls and grabbed a joint from his drawer. He climbed out of his window into the tree and thought out a clever plan to stay on Mercedes good side and protect her from this new guy.

* * *

A few hours later Mercedes walked into her bedroom feeling exhausted from the day's events. She hadn't slept well the night before and was feeling the repercussions of it now. Throwing her backpack down on to the floor, she thanked God that she had finished her homework over at Quinn's place. It was nice that the Evans had invited her to stay dinner where she was able to watch the family interact with each other. She told Quinn that she was going to have to come over and share dinner with her family too someday soon. A loud knock came at her door and she sighed before opening it. She looked out and then down and saw her uncle Kevin with a drill in his hand and a tool belt around his waist. "Hey baby girl, let me in I have some things to fix."

"Uh, uncle Kev...what are you d-doing?" He bent over to the side and picked up pieces of wood that were bigger than him and wobbled into the bedroom. Her eyebrow's furrowed together in confusion. "Wait, d-does d-dad know you're trying to fix something b-because remember when you tried fixing the light bulb in the hallway that one time." She folded her arms over her chest and her uncle gave her some side eye.

"I didn't _plan_ for that fire to happen thank you very much Ms. Let me remind you of all your failures Jones. I got it out in time didn't I? Nobody got hurt." He said with a scoff.

"Um, there's still a b-black spot on the wood where it happened." She laughed and he rolled his eyes as he moved towards the closed window.

"Anyways, little child. I'm going to board up your windows so that you don't get any more bed intruders. No more climbing in your windows, no snatching my nieces up, tryin to kill em, so you need to get some wood, get some nails, get some weed, get a hammer, and board the windows up and stop curly head from coming here." He burst out into loud laughter and smacked his knee. "Man Cedes...I could have been a rapper, call myself After Eight, like that minty dark chocolate." He shook his head and then walked to her window. "I'm dark and fresh!"

"Uncle Kev, you can't b-board up my windows and Jay's not going to try to kill me." She picked up the wood and dragged it back into the hallway. "We got into a little fight, we'll fix it." Uncle Kevin stared at her like she was dumb.

"That boy stole my cereal and he made you cry, he is one train stop short from crazy town Cedes. The car is running, but there's no gas, he is one big mac short of a patty, are you seeing what I'm saying. White folks are crazy Cedes! Don't you watch the damn news?" Mercedes rolled her eyes at her uncle and shook her head.

"I'm not going to let you b-board up my windows." The shorter man stared at her with concern in his eyes and shook his head. He handed her his hammer.

"Take that and hide it under your pillow, if he comes in here trying to kill you just pretend that you're going to grab your pillow for a quick cry and then Chuck Norris his ASS, you beat him like a damn Whac-a-mole. You understand me?" Mercedes laughed and nodded.

"Yea, uncle Kev. Thank you." She smiled and slid the hammer under one of her pillows to make him feel better. "I'm feeling kind of tired, is it okay with you if go to sleep now. I'll keep my window locked." He looked at the window hesitantly before walking off with his toolbelt. She watched him leave and sighed deeply before closing the door. Everyone thought Jay was this violent creature that only aimed to hurt her and she wasn't sure how to change their minds when all he did was act irrational. She rubbed her forehead and opened her window to hopefully clear her headache. Grabbing her night clothes, she left her bedroom and walked into the bathroom to change. When she went back to her bedroom, she threw her dirty clothes into the hamper, turned off the lights, and slid into the cool sheets of her bed. The second that her head hit the pillow she could feel sleepiness slowly overcome her until she heard the sound of light footsteps on her floor. Her eyes slightly opened and she sighed when she felt the bed dip and the covers move up. A cool arm wrapped around her waist and she felt the tip of a cold nose against the back of her neck. She could smell a heavy mixture of men's cologne and weed radiating off of the man behind her.

"Jay, if uncle Kev finds you in here, he will kill you." She said quietly as he snuggled closer behind her.

"I know...it's the risk I was willing to take to come talk to you."

"What d-do you want?" She said almost inaudibly. _Why can't you just leave me alone?_ She felt him move behind her and she could imagine his face in the darkness.

"I wanted to say that I'm sorry...I really overreacted and I shouldn't have even been there when you were on the phone with that guy...I shouldn't have yelled at you. You're almost 18, an adult, you know and I shouldn't be trying to control you." She could feel his breath tickle the skin of her neck. "I just want to protect you...and I feel like I'm failing at it." Mercedes turned in the darkness to face him. She could see his features in the light that shone through the window.

"You're right, I control my own life and I love that you want to b-b there for me...b-but you need to give me space to grow, to breathe, to b-be alive." His blue eyes bore into hers before he looked down. She knew that her words were hurting him, but it was all she could do to make her position clear for him to understand. "I want and need you in my life, b-but you gotta start supporting me." She tilted his chin up to look at her. "Can you d-do that Jay?" He sighed and nodded.

"You sure this guy is a good guy?" He asked after a few moments.

"The b-best." She couldn't stop the smile that tugged at her lips as she thought about the green eyed southern boy. "He's a really good guy." Jay could see her smiling in the dark and felt sick in the pit of his stomach. He was going to have to trust her to be okay on her own and to make good calls without his influence. He hoped that whoever this guy was was worthy of her and wouldn't hurt her no matter what, or he'd have to deal with Jay. "He's a p-protector like you." She grinned and Jay reached out to trace the shape of her lips with his finger.

"O..kay. I'll do my best to give you the space that you want... I love you M." He said softly. He was going to do his best as usual to stand by her.

"Okay. I love you too Jay." She replied back. The two fell into a comfortable silence and Jay didn't move until he heard her breathing slow down and knew that she had fallen asleep. As he held her, he devised a plan to meet this protector of hers and make sure that he knew that Jay was in the picture, and would _always_ be there.

A/N: Thanks to those following the story, please let me know what you think if you have the time. Do you think Jay is just being a good friend, or does he have an unhealthy obsession with Mercedes? Thanks to JG for all of your help and support.


	8. Chapter 8

Jay stood in Mercedes bedroom and held her tightly against his chest. He leaned his chin on the top of her head and sighed happily. The shorter woman, who was wrapped up in his embrace, smiled and pat his back reassuringly. "Jay, if you keep this up we're going to b-be late for school."A giggle escaped her full lips before she poked his side, pulled back from the hug, and grabbed her knapsack from her computer chair in the corner. He watched her happily as he finally felt that things were okay between them. Things were starting to feel like they used to before Mercedes had decided to make new friends and pull away from him. Slightly shaking his head at his thoughts, he promised himself that he was going to try to do his best by the beautiful woman, even if that meant meeting the new people in her life and giving them a chance.

He placed a fresh cigarette behind his hear and reached out to grab the backpack out of her hands and slung it over his shoulder. Mercedes rolled her eyes and laughed as she opened her door to head downstairs, with Jay in tow. "Thanks you weirdo." She grinned as her eyes danced with unexpressed laughter. Jay loved seeing that look in her eyes and was all the more pleased that he had put it there. They made a quick pit stop in the kitchen so that she could grab her lunch and an apple when uncle Kev walked in wearing a long brown Terry cloth robe, a shower cap, and blue slippers. He paused to stare at the teenagers, who were in turn staring back at him in confusion.

Before they could even speak, he put his finger up in the air. "Listen here, this is _my_ house, I pay some rent once in awhile. I'm also a grown ass man that has done time, aiight, so don't be judging me in my own god damned house. If I want to wear a robe and slippers around here, I will, hell if I had a choice I'd be butt nekkid." He grumbled as he pushed past Jay and went to the fridge. "You lucky I'm not cooking some grits right about now. Dash that shit all over you, trying to break into black folks homes, we ain't got nothing for you." He kissed his teeth, "Coming in here looking like a ghetto ass Sweeney Todd. Does this look like a barbershop to you? Do you see Cedric and Eve around here?" Jay's fists clenched and Mercedes placed her hand gently on his lower back and raised an eyebrow at her uncle.

"Um, Uncle Kev..." she tried hard not to laugh as her eyes roamed over the shorter man, "Why d-do you have a shower cap on though?" She had never seen him wearing one before, even when he took showers. He turned to look at her with tired eyes and then proceeded to roll them. Jay leaned back into Mercedes touch as he waited for the other man to answer.

"I couldn't find my wave cap last night," He paused to look Jay up and down suspiciously, "so I had to use something else. Waves and showers are both water related, so it's the same damn thing if you think about it." He cleared his throat and Mercedes stood there for a moment trying to process his answer before Jay tugged on her hand for them to leave.

"Alright then, see ya uncle Kev." She said quickly before they left the house in a hurry. Once the door was locked and closed behind them, Mercedes doubled over in a loud laugh and shook her head. "I wish I had gotten a photo of that. Gabby will never b-believe me." She pulled out her phone and sent a text to her sister before throwing Jay the car keys.

"M...when was your uncle in jail?" Jay threw her bag in the back and slid into the driver's seat, adjusting it back from its original position, so that his legs wouldn't be cramped up. For as long as he had known Mercedes, he had never heard her or her family ever mention that her uncle had been locked up. It didn't make him scared of the older man, but very intrigued. Mercedes looked up from her phone, slipped it into her pocket, and raised an eyebrow before laughing.

"P-please, Uncle Kev was never in jail. He tried to steal a hat from a store when he was ten years old, but he cried and b-begged so much that they just let him go. He was in the mall jail for five seconds." She laughed even harder as she shook her head at the image of the short man actually having to serve time in jail. "But don't antagonize him, he's not all there sometimes." She thought back to the hammer that was hidden under her bed as Jay drove them to school.

"Your uncle's the one that comes at me all the time. Maybe you should tell him not to antagonize _me_." His eyes darkened and Mercedes scrambled to think of another topic they could discuss to get his mind off of her uncle. They pulled into the school parking lot before she could get a word in. She truly hoped that Jay would understand that her uncle was only kidding and not try to do anything to him. He turned off the car and sat there for a moment looking at her. "I've missed you M." He said softly as he gazed at her. She was the best thing he had in his life and sometimes he felt like she was the _only_ person he had. Mercedes could feel her cheeks grow hot under the attention. She grinned and leaned her head back against the passenger seat.

"I missed you too Jay. You know I honestly hate fighting with you." He nodded and leaned forward to place a lingering kiss on her forehead. She bit her lip and sighed. "You're my best friend and when you're not around things just don't seem right. I don't want to lose you in my life" She could feel tears welling up in her eyes and shook her head to stop them from falling.

He nodded. "You're never going to lose me, I'll always be around to bug you." He grinned and scratched the back of his neck. "By the way, I'm having the party for Carrie on Saturday. You'll be there right?" Mercedes nodded quickly.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world. I promise." She knew that her being there was very important to him and even if she had made plans for the Saturday, she would have cancelled them to make him happy. She gently touched his hand and looked into his eyes. "I'll even b-bring cake."

"Cool, make sure it's vanilla." He smiled. "Her favourite." Mercedes nodded.

"I know." They slipped out of the car and walked into the school, with Jay's arm around her shoulders. Things were looking up for the best friends after a long few days of stress and sadness. They could only hope that things would remain that way.

* * *

"Quinn, Quinn, Quinn, Quinn." Mercedes tapped her friend on the shoulder as she looked for a table for them to sit down at in the lunch room.

"Cedes, I'm about to bite that finger off if you don't quit pokin me." The blonde woman found a table in the corner and placed her tray down. Mercedes slid down the bench across from her and tapped her fingers excitedly on the cool wood. "Okay, now what?" She asked with a smile as she peeled the cover off of her chocolate pudding cup. Mercedes pulled her ham sandwich out of her bag and quickly pulled the saran wrap off of it.

"Well, I wanted to know if you can come with me to the mall today to b-buy a dress." She bit into her sandwich and looked for her juice box that was buried in the bottom of her bag. She felt guilty for asking Quinn to come with her to buy a dress for a date with Sam, considering that she hadn't told her good friend that she was going out with him in the first place.

A look of disappointment crossed Quinn's face as she swallowed a spoonful of the pudding. "I can't hun. I have practice after school and then one of the boys from the football team asked me to go see a movie with him." Mercedes sighed and nodded. She knew she should have asked Quinn before, but she hadn't realised that she had absolutely no clothes in her closet. Well none that she thought was suitable for a dinner date. "But I can go tomorrow." She said excitedly and then frowned. "Wait I can't I have a club meeting tomorrow for this singing group thing. But we can go after." Mercedes' date was the next day so it wouldn't have made too much sense for them to go then anyways.

"No it's okay. I'll just head to the mall this afternoon and p-pick up something really cute." She smiled and took another bite of her sandwich. She looked up to see Quinn's expression sour. "What's wrong? It really won't be an issue. Trust me." Quinn cleared her throat and bit into a carrot, lowering her eyes at the same time. Without looking up she pointed to a spot behind Mercedes.

"What won't be an issue?" She heard Jay's voice behind her. She quickly turned her head and looked up at her best friend. He grinned sheepishly, "Didn't mean to eavesdrop, I just wanted to sit with you guys." He plopped down beside Mercedes and looked at Quinn. "Hey, uh Quinn." Mercedes could see the blonde woman struggling to keep her composure as thoughts raced through her mind. She just hoped Quinn didn't snap and yell at him about everything Mercedes and her had spoken about.

"Hey Jay." She smiled sweetly, but both Jay and Mercedes could see that it didn't reach her eyes, however, Mercedes was grateful that she was at least making the effort. "Cedes wants to go to the mall after school today. Maybe you should join her so that she won't have to go by herself." Quinn stated as she collected the garbage from her lunch and put it in the Ziploc bag her carrots had occupied. Mercedes inwardly groaned at the thought of Jay coming with her, she was sure he was going to ask her a million questions and she wasn't sure if she really wanted to answer them right now.

"Sure," He looked over at her and smiled. Mercedes grinned back and sipped on her fruit punch. "We haven't gone to the mall for a bit now anyways and there was this new book that came out that I wanted to look at it."

"See that's perfect." Quinn stood up quickly and grabbed her bag. "I'll catch you around tomorrow lady." She smiled warmly at Mercedes and nodded curtly at Jay before walking out of the lunch room, leaving the two alone.

"Wow, she really hates me doesn't she?" He said in a highly amused tone of voice as he reached for Mercedes' juice box and took a sip. Her gaze followed her new friend out of the cafeteria and she felt as if she had made her leave. She had wanted her to stay and chat with them, but if being around Jason made her that uncomfortable, then she couldn't force her to be there. "I guess I'll have to try harder to change that." Her eyes widened as she looked at him and smiled.

"You're really going to try?" She bit her lip in anticipation. Jay nodded and smiled back at her. "Well that's different."

"Yea, if she's a good friend to you, then the least I could do is be nice to her or something. But it'll probably take a bit for her to be okay with me since I called her an evil Barbie a lot." He laughed and Mercedes frowned. "Right, that wasn't funny." She playfully smacked his hand as the lunch bell rang and the two got up to go to their next class. "Meet me at the car after school then M." For a brief moment, she had forgotten that they were still going to go together.

"Okay, seeya." She waved before walking briskly to Biology.

* * *

Mercedes and Jay wandered through a busy clothing store. She picked up a tacky looking floral dress and frowned at it. "Why are you looking for dresses, you never wear dresses." He stated in confusion. Mercedes shrugged and thumbed the dress.

"I d-don't know, just felt like b-buying a dress. I d-don't really own any." Jay leaned on a rack of clothing and studied her expression.

"It's for that guy isn't it? The one you like." He said slowly before he looked down at the hideous dress in her hands. She looked up at him and felt herself blushing.

"Um, well yea. I..." She took a deep breath and nervously looked away. "..we're going on a d-date tomorrow night." The taller man nodded and she braced herself for whatever outburst was coming her way. He cleared his throat and touched the dress in her hands.

"Well dudes like flowers so you should buy that one." He tapped the fabric and Mercedes looked up at him in disbelief.

"This looks like a hand towel in my granny's b-bathroom, I'm not b-buying something like this Jay." She hung the dress back up and Jay pulled out another dress from the rack that he knew was uglier than the last one. She looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Are you even trying right now?" The taller man laughed and shook his head.

"No, not really." She poked him hard in the side. "Okay, okay. I saw a really nice dress that I think would look beautiful on you in another store. But..." He paused and turned her to look at him. "...even if you had worn those ugly dresses, you would have still looked amazing M." Mercedes looked to the side for a moment and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she smiled.

"Thanks Jay," she said almost choked up. He shrugged and turned to walk out of the store, she almost had to jog to keep up with him as he went back to the store he had spoken about earlier.

"So where are you guys going?" He asked nonchalantly as they entered the store. "McDonalds?" He laughed as he moved towards the rack and pulled out a beautiful black flirty dress. She rolled her eyes at him and smiled as he handed her the dress.

"This is so cute," She looked at the price tag hanging from the shoulder and gasped. "Never mind, it's not that cute." She grumbled and put the dress back on the rack. "I think we're going to East Side Mario's, b-but I'm not too sure yet." Jay nodded and picked up the dress again.

"What size are you?" His gaze roamed over her body and she scoffed. He watched her expression and rolled his eyes before looking through the rack and handing her the same dress of a different size. "Just try it on, I want to see if you'll actually look like how I pictured you." Mercedes hesitantly took the dress from him and tried it on in the change room. She looked at herself in the full length mirror and felt beautiful. The dress looked as if it had been made for her, especially the way that it hugged her curves. She opened the door to show Jay when he handed her a pair of shoes and a large black belt. "Try these on."

She opened her mouth to protest, but he put his hand up in the air, turned her around, and lightly pushed her back into the change room. Sighing, she pulled on the shoes that fit her small feet perfectly and wrapped the belt around her waist. Her parents had money, but she didn't, and she knew that the allowance she received wouldn't allow her to purchase the items. "M, let me see." Jay called for her and she slowly opened the door. A bright smile lit up his face and his eyes. "Damn...I'm good." She pretend swatted him and he laughed. "Well when you save up some money, maybe you can buy it." He shrugged and walked away from her, not wanting to see the look of disappointment on her face.

He waited outside the store for her on a bench as she changed back into her normal clothes. His cold blue eyes held her brown ones as she stepped outside and looked around for him. "Let's go Jay. There's nothing here for me." He nodded and immediately stood up to drape his arm across her shoulders.

"It's cool. You were too good for those stores anyways M." She laughed feeling uplifted that he had come with her. Turning into his side, she pulled him into a hug. He grinned and rubbed her back lightly. "I have some important stuff to do tonight, so I'll catch you around okay?" She pulled back in confusion.

"How the hell will you get home? You want me to wait with you? I don't have anything p-planned for tonight." She didn't want to desert him in the mall after all of the help he had given her. He shook his curly hair and grinned.

"I'm good M, don't worry. I always find my way." He could see her hesitance and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I'll be okay. I'll catch you later." She reached up and tugged on the beard he was growing out and smiled.

"You're starting to look like a p-pirate." He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"As long as it's a sexy pirate, I'm down with that." He laughed and moved away from her. "Have fun on your date with your gentleman friend." He winked and ran his hand through his long curly hair before he headed in the opposite direction. She stood there for a moment watching after him and smiled before she turned away and headed to her car.

* * *

Mercedes didn't see Jay at all the next day at school and it worried her. She hadn't heard from him all night either even though she knew he was home because his light had been on. Once she pulled into her driveway, she stepped out of her car and looked towards his window to see if she could catch any movement, but saw nothing. She just hoped that he hadn't ended up with a psycho cougar that had killed him. By the time she had finished her homework for the night, it was time for her to get ready for her date with Sam. Her hand had been shaking for the last hour because of her nerves.

She stood up, did a few jumping jacks, danced in excitement, and then went to take a shower. She'd pull out a pair of jeans and a nice top after her shower. Sam had said he was going to come over to her house to pick her up and her parent's insisted that he come in and meet them, so she begrudgingly agreed. After spending time in the bathroom plucking her eyebrows and cursing men for wanting women with little hair on their bodies, she walked into her bedroom to find a large purple box with a bow on top of it. Wrapping her towel more tightly around her, she walked over to her open window and looked into Jay's room, but saw no light or movement from within.

Closing the window and drawing her curtains closed, she picked up the box and placed it on her bed. Licking her lips in excitement, she pulled on the ribbon and opened it to find the beautiful black dress, the black shoes, the black belt, and black leggings from the store. She gasped and put her hand to her head in shock. Mercedes was going to kill him and then hug him and then kill him again when she got the chance to. Dressing quickly because she was running out of time, she let down her hair and sprayed perfume over her body.

As she put the last touches on her makeup, she heard a light knock on her door and opened it to see her mother standing there. The taller woman's eyes widened and she smiled. "Well, look at you gorgeous daughter of mine." Mercedes blushed and her mother pulled her into a side hug. "I knew you got my genes."

Mercedes laughed, "Thanks mom."

"Anytime baby. Also the cute little country blonde boy is downstairs right now with your uncle Kev and your father." Mercedes looked at her mom in a panic. "I told them to play nice, so we have about one minute before they ignore everything I've said." The two Jones women almost ran down the stairs to find Sam wearing black jeans, a white T-shirt, with a dark grey blazer on top. A silver chain with a small pendant hung from his neck. Mercedes had to take a moment to catch her breath as she looked at him.

"Gav, get the white sheet of paper in the corner there." Uncle Kevin pointed to his older brother who moved to get the paper without ever taking his eyes off of Sam. Sam didn't look phased at all by whatever was happening as he stood there. He turned to look at Mercedes and his green eyes almost bugged out of his head.

"Hey Mercy." He smiled and turned to look at her, "You look real beautiful tonight." Mercedes was about to take a step towards him when Uncle Kev put his hand out.

"Now hold up a minute here," He pulled an ink pad out of his pocket and opened it. "Before you can go touching my niece all willy nilly, you need to be fingerprinted okay. Because if she goes missing, Imma find your ass. One way or another, I'm gonna find you, I'm gonna getcha gethcha getcha getcha." Sam raised an eyebrow and Mercedes glared at her uncle.

"D-dad?!" She exclaimed in disapproval. Looking to him to stop the madness.

"Let your uncle do his business Cedes. He would have been a cop if there had been more height to him." Kevin gave his brother side eye.

"Thanks Gav." He said sarcastically before he approached a surprised Sam and had him place his fingers in the ink and roll it on the white paper her father was holding. Mercedes looked at Sam's face to see him look highly amused, but not mortified. She covered her eyes with her hand in embarrassment and got a wet paper towel from the kitchen to wipe his hands with when he was done.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry." She whispered to him as she gave him the towel.

"It's okay. It just shows me that your fam loves ya a lot." He winked at her and wiped his fingers clean.

"Alright, now for the urine test." Uncle Kevin held out a plastic water bottle.

"Kevin!" Dana Jones glared at the shorter man. "Do not make me step on you. Now I've entertained your insanity long enough. Let the kids go." She folded her arms across her chest and didn't even blink as she stared him down. Kevin looked at her in disbelief and then looked at Sam.

"Fine, but let me smell yo breath." Mercedes' mom was about to protest when Sam walked right up to uncle Kev and blew into his face. "Damn, boy, lay off them Doritos. Damn smell nearly took out my cornea." Mercedes laughed and Sam grinned before shaking her father's and mother's hands.

"Nice meetin ya'll. I'll have her back at a decent time."The couple walked outside to his car and he opened the passenger's side for her.

"I'm seriously so sorry. It's my first...date, so they're kind of excited I guess." She muttered as she pulled on her seatbelt. Sam shook his head and leaned over to kiss her cheek.

"I was hopin you'd be excited too little woman." He said in sexy drawl before starting the car. She laughed and nodded.

"I'm very excited for this date." She grinned sheepishly as they headed to the restaurant.

"Good, cause I've been real excited since I asked ya." He chuckled. "I didn't want to be alone in the excitement and all." Mercedes couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips. She was excited and happy all at once and hoped and prayed that nothing went wrong.

* * *

Jay watched as the blonde man entered Mercedes house. He sat quietly in his car with his date Sugar Motta as he waited for the other couple to head out and leave to go to the restaurant. "Um, so wow, your family's really rich and stuff. My daddy talks about your daddy all the time. So that must mean you have tons of money." Jay rolled his eyes and rubbed the headache that was building in between his eyes. He had asked the richest girl in school to go out on a date with him, because he knew his money would have her saying yes. "So how much money does your family have, because I can't deal well with poor people. There's just something wrong with someone who doesn't like money. You know what I'm saying?" Jay leaned his head against his steering wheel and took a few deep breaths.

"You don't mind if I smoke do you?" He didn't let her answer, before he was rolling the windows down and smoking on a joint. She looked at him with a disgusted grimace and folded her arms over her chest.

"Why are we here? You said dinner and I don't see any food. Unless it's hidden throughout the car or something." She turned her head to look in the back seat. Jay laughed and shook his head.

"There's no food. Just chill. We'll be going to dinner soon." He pulled a long drag from the joint and inhaled it before letting the smoke billow from his nose. His headache began to clear up as he let the pot flow through him.

"Can we at least kiss or something. I'm bored." She grumbled. Jay sighed before leaning over and kissed her hungrily. His tongue licking along the bottom seam of her lip and their teeth knocking against each other, she moaned loudly and pulled on his curls. Jay pulled back once he heard a car start and pulled on his seatbelt. "Wait, what just happened?" She asked in confusion.

"Put your seatbelt on, we're going to dinner." He flicked the little cigarette outside of his car window and drove off behind the other couple. He tried to keep a close distance, but not close enough to be spotted. He knew Mercedes would be mad that he was going to show up, but he needed to meet this guy and make sure he was good enough for her. In his mind, this was the only way it could happen. They parked at a fancier restaurant that was not East Side Mario's, which Jay was going to use to his advantage. Sugar opened her door and he leaned across her and closed it. "Not yet, I want to chat with you a bit."

She looked at him in confusion before he reached into the backseat and picked up the roses that were on the floor. He handed them to her and smiled. "Oh wow, these are beautiful. Thank you." She kissed him roughly, catching Jay off guard. "But wait, there's no chocolate?" She dragged her fingers through her hair and Jay resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"I'll get you something chocolatey inside alright?" The answer seemed to agree with her because she smiled and kissed his cheek.

"You smell like daddy after his poker games." She stated absentmindedly. Jay raised an eyebrow and grabbed cologne from his glove compartment. He sprayed it on his neck and chest before opening his door.

"Okay, let's go." The pair walked into the restaurant and asked for a table for two. Once they were seated, he scanned the people sitting in his area and grumbled. No Mercedes in sight. After they had ordered their drinks, he excused himself and got up to go to the bathroom. As he looked around, he spotted the couple sitting in a corner giggling about something. He grinned and quickly made his way back to Sugar.

* * *

Mercedes couldn't stop laughing as she sat in front of Sam. He was charming and hilarious all rolled into one. "You're too p-perfect. What's wrong with you?" She giggled as she sipped on her ginger ale. Sam put his hand to his chest as if offended.

"Well excuse me for bein proper on our first date. You want me to belch and fart now, cause I was waitin at least until our fifth date for that." He laughed and she shook her head. "By all means though, if you wanna tell me how you're not perfect, I'd like to see ya try." He leaned back into his chair and grinned.

"Uh, I have an obvious p-problem." She shrugged and looked down at her plate.

"Yea, I noticed." He said quickly and she frowned. "You don't notice how amazin you are, and that to me is a big problemo. But I ain't gonna tell you that you're amazin cause as I tell Q, you don't need any man or anybody to tell ya that. Ya gotta tell yourself." Mercedes smiled widely and licked her lips. "Another problem I noticed is that we haven't kissed since the first time, so I'm hopin for a little smooch later. Unless your sister's around, cause if she is, you can just keep the smooch."

Mercedes laughed and played with her hair. "No no, b-but she will be b-back soon." She was very excited to see her sister again, she missed her during everything that had happened. "And I can give you a sample kiss if you want?" She blushed and Sam immediately choked on his water and coughed.

"Mercy, you can't say things like that while I'm drinkin'." He chuckled and leaned forward. Mercedes met him the rest of the way and softly placed a kiss on his lips. "Call me a bee, cause I like your honey." Mercedes rolled her eyes and laughed at his corniness. "You can't order any dessert because you're too sweet."

"Sam!" She laughed and covered her face with a napkin so that he wouldn't see how hard she was smiling.

"M?! Is that you?" Her eyes widened as she lowered the napkin and stared at her best friend. "I thought it was you! I thought you were going to East Sides tonight?" He looked at the blonde man and raised an eyebrow. "Hi I'm Jay." He extended his hand and Sam shook it warmly. Mercedes eyed Sugar Motta who was hanging off his arm, smiling like she was Stevie Wonder.

"Well, Sam surprised me by taking me here. I d-didn't know you went to p-places like this." She stared at him in shock and was surprised at how things had worked out.

"Why don't ya'll pull up some seats for now." Sam said cheerfully and then looked at Mercedes. "So Mercy, are you gonna introduce me to your friends? Or we're goin to be secret lovers?" Mercedes smiled and then laughed.

"Well that sounds like fun, but, Jay, Sugar, this is Sam my d-date." She said the word proudly. "Jay's my b-best friend and Sugar's his..." She looked at the smaller woman who was still grinning.

"I'm his date." She said matter of factly and turned to Sam. "What's your last name Sam?"The brunette wondered if he had any money.

"I come from a long line of Evans." Sam stated proudly. Mercedes looked at Jay's face and could tell that he was thinking, she prayed he didn't connect Sam to Quinn. Jay was wondering why that name sounded so familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He looked Sam over and didn't think he looked threatening, but those were the guys you had to be nervous the most about. He grabbed two chairs and sat down beside Mercedes and Sugar sat down beside the attractive blonde.

"The Evans, hmm, are you rich?" She asked bluntly and Sam laughed before taking a sip of his water.

"Heck yea we are. We're rich in smart ass humour and love." He boyishly grinned at her and Sugar felt conflicted between not liking him because he was poor, but liking him because he was attractive. She decided that being poor trumped his cuteness.

"Oh." She looked at him with disinterest and fixed her gaze on Mercedes. "Hey, you want to come with me to the little girls room. I hate going alone. Plus we never speak. Like ever." _Yea, with good reason_. Mercedes looked around and made sure she hadn't said her thoughts out loud.

"Sure. I'll b-be back." She said in a terminator fashion. Sam's eyes twinkled at her impersonation.

"You like impersonations Mercy? Well you and I are gonna get along really good." She laughed and followed the bubbly young woman to the bathroom. Jay slipped into Mercedes seat and sat across from Sam who in turn studied him with interest. The waitress came by and asked where Mercedes had gone and Sam told her to come back in a few for their order. Icy green eyes leveled with cool blue ones. "So, you're Mercy's best friend?" Jay nodded.

"Yup, been that way for a very long time." He smiled. "That going to be a problem?" Sam shook his head.

"Well, if ya'll been friends for that long and she's here with me tonight, then why would I be worried? You're obviously doin somethin wrong." He picked up his water and sipped it as Jay's eyes narrowed.

"M and I are best friends, that's more important than a boyfriend. Those come and go blondie. Who do you think she'll come to when you piss her off?" He leaned forward and grinned. "Me. Not you."

"Well listen here best friend and listen good. I plan on making that woman so happy she won't need to go to you. And if she ever has a problem with me, Imma encourage to come to _me_ and talk it out. You got that? This ain't a competition and I'm not makin it into one. She's a person, not a damn commodity." The blonde pretty much growled. "Is that gonna be a problem for you bud?" Jay's fists clenched as he glared at the man in front of him.

"If you so much as hurt her I wi—"

"Yea, yea, you'll beat me up, kill me, throw me to the snakes. Whatever, I'd never hurt anyone intentionally especially not Mercy. Now you better quit growlin at me boy and fix your attention on the lady you brought here tonight and fix your damn face because they'll be here in two seconds." Sam whispered harshly and then leaned back in his chair with a smile and a chuckle. Mercedes and Sugar walked back to the table and were laughing about something. "Nice meetin ya Jay, shame ya can't stay sittin with us, but I understand that you want to be alone with your little lady. Don't worry about Mercy, she's in very good hands here." He reached out, held Mercedes' hand, and kissed the top of it.

She giggled and smiled at Jay and Sugar. "It was good seeing you guys." She tucked her hair behind her ear. "We'll talk later Jay."

The blue eyed man tried his best not to snap as his migraine came back full force. "You'll be there tomorrow right? You promised." He stood up from the table and stared at her. Mercedes could tell that something was very wrong, but she couldn't tell what.

"Yea, I'm going to spend some time with Sam and then I'll b-be there." She squeezed Sam's hand and he stared at Jay. The curly haired brunette simply nodded and looked at Sugar.

"Cool. Let's head back to our table." Without saying another word, he quickly headed back to his table as Sugar tried to keep up with him. "Nice meeting you." She yelled over her shoulder.

Mercedes sat down and looked at Sam's calm and collected face. "Interestin character we got there." He laughed. "Now back to me talkin about how sweet you are and makin you realise how much I like ya." Sam extended his hand palm up on the table and playfully nodded his head towards it. Mercedes laughed and placed her hand in his. She was having an amazing time with him and was happy that nothing had gone wrong. Yet.

A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed it, thank you to my bestie JG for all of your help love. I love my readers! thanks for sticking around. Please comment and review if you have the time. Do you think Jay went too far? Should Mercy have been mad at him? What do you think about Sam?


	9. Chapter 9

Jay sat in his cold, dark, eerily quiet, living room while eating a bowl of cornflakes early Saturday morning as he absentmindedly watched muted old cartoon reruns on the television. His cool blue eyes stared at Tom chasing after Jerry, but his mind was heavily preoccupied with his plans for the day. The silver spoon that slowly rose to his mouth paused for a moment before reaching its destination, as his eyes slowly moved to the corner to watch his father sit down in the armchair beside the leather couch he was on. Jay ate his food but refused to tear his eyes away from the man who was reading a newspaper and occasionally coughing beside him. The curly haired teen placed his bowl on the glass coffee table and wiped his palms along the top of his flannel covered thighs. He was trying to figure out how he could get out of the room without his father noticing and harassing him, but he hadn't realised he had already gotten his father's attention. "What did I tell you about putting your dishes on that table Jason?" The deep monotone voice of his father boomed throughout the silent room. "When you finally get off your ass and get a job and buy your own table, you can then, and only then, put your dishes on it." His father folded his paper down and stared at his son, who refused to look at him as he spoke. "Do I make myself clear?" Jay finally looked at his father from the corner of his eyes and smirked. He reached forward and picked up the bowl before smashing it down heavily against the glass table, shattering everything in the process. Slowly he stood up and glared at his father whose mouth hung open as he looked at the shards of glass all over the carpet, his eyes darted over to Jay's hand which was now dripping with blood.

"Clear as glass dad." He threw the remnant of the bowl, that he still had in his hand, to the ground and turned and walked out of the living room. He would never admit how much his arm stung as he made his way to the bathroom and pulled out the little pieces of glass that had flown into his skin with a tweezer. After washing his arm and wrapping it up, he walked back downstairs to find his mother on the ground picking up the glass pieces. He watched her for a moment before she turned her narrowed eyes on him and shook her head before she continued what she was doing. He knelt on the ground and helped her pick up the pieces and threw it in the garbage that was between them.

"You couldn't have just...picked up the damn bowl and washed it? You _just had_ to destroy it didn't you?...you destroy everything." She hissed at him as she grabbed a small broom and swept up what she could. Jay's hand stilled on a large shard of glass that he had been about to throw away and dropped it back on to the carpet. He was seething on the inside, but on the outside he remained a cool and distant. A long rattling sigh escaped his lips as he uttered the next few words to her.

"I'm sorry." He watched her eyes widen for a moment before she continued to pick up the glass. She gave a slight nod and a strangled chuckle slipped through her lips. Jay hadn't heard that sound in a long time and it made him feel uncomfortable and confused.

"It was kind of...interesting to see your father speechless. I can assure you that it has never happened before...so..."She looked as if she had more to say, but stopped herself and continued to clean. Her eyes looked at his bandaged arm before she shook her head and sighed to herself. He was curious about what she was thinking, but knowing his mother and who she was, he would never know. Quietly, they both worked to clean up and occasionally he glanced over at her with the pink curlers decorating her hair and the long old pink robe that had belonged to his grandmother. His mother hadn't told him that, but his grandfather had.

He closed his eyes and pictured his grandfather sitting beside his bed in a rickety old rocking chair. Jay and Mercedes would be cuddled up together as little children, eager to hear the story that his grandfather would have for them that night. Sometimes they would be about princes and princesses, which Jay loved, or sometimes they would be horror stories, that happened to a friend of a friend of his grandpa's, those were the ones that Mercedes enjoyed. His grandfather would make them up as he went and they were always interesting and always different from the ones he would tell them before. They absolutely loved every single one of them. His best friend would ask him to help her put on her stocking hat with the legs cut off before she fell asleep on those sleep over nights and Jay would always quietly help her. Those were the parts he missed the most, just laying beside her and listening to her quiet snores during the nights he was unable to sleep. But then his parents said that it was inappropriate and no matter how hard his grandfather protested, they refused to allow the little girl to sleep over anymore, so Jay made it his mission to sleep over at her place as much as he could without their permission. His grandfather knew about his plans and told him to be careful when climbing the tree to get to Mercedes' house and sometimes he would pack his grandson various treats like cookies and candies.

He opened his eyes and found his mother staring at him oddly. He cleared his throat and looked down. "I'm having a party for Carrie today, you can...you can come if you want. I think she'd really like that." He thought of the little girl who was upstairs playing in his bedroom. Her party was what had been on his mind that morning before his father had arrived and bothered him, deep down he knew how much fun she would have and had only wished he had time to find some of her friends to come as well. However, Carrie would be happy to just have Jay and Mercedes there. He watched as his mother's eyes darkened and closed into angry slits.

"I thought we told you to get that nonsensical stupid moronic idea out of your head!" She growled at him before she struggled to stand up and threw the broom and pan on to the floor. "You are not having a party for her in my house, do you understand me? SHE DOES _NOT NEED_ A GOD DAMNED PARTY! And if you ask me one more time, I'm kicking you out of here and I don't care if it's against the law. You'll be eighteen soon enough." She twirled around and walked out of the living room leaving Jay and his mess behind.

* * *

Mercedes parked her car down the block and quickly ran over to the Evans residence. The brisk cool breeze forced her to wrap her coat around her body as she ran along the side of the house and snuck into their backyard. The mission impossible theme song rang from her phone that she had to quickly fish out of her pocket and mute before she answered. "The Canary is in the nest, I repeat...the Canary is in the nest." She whispered to Sam as she made her way to the back door.

"Roger that my sexy croissant." Mercedes rolled her eyes and waited three minutes before Sam opened the door and hurried her in. He looked around quickly before placing a slow careful kiss to her lips. "Quinzilla is in the livin room, so we gotta be careful. You wait here for my signal." He gave her one last peck on the lips before he walked into the living room and she hid in the corner of the kitchen. "So Q...I might've dropped your toothbrush in the toilet this mornin, but I ain't sure if it's yours or ma or pops...it's still in there so I didn't forget which one it was." Mercedes could hear him speaking casually to his sister.

"You better be jokin SAMUEL EVANS! Was it the pink one?!" She heard Quinn's panicked voice. A part of her felt guilty for putting her through this stress, but she didn't know what else to do to see Sam.

"Q, you know I'm colour blind, it coulda been mine for all I know." Mercedes heard a slight smack and then Sam yelped. "You ain't gotta hit me, just go upstairs and check it out." She could make out the sound of Quinn cursing under her breath before the sound of fading footsteps went upstairs. Sam ran back into the kitchen shouting, "Signal!" Before he grabbed Mercedes arm quickly and ran up the stairs with her. They had just reached the landing before they saw Quinn's foot pop out of the bathroom and with a quick light shove from Sam, Mercedes flew into his bedroom.

"There was no toothbrush in the toilet Sam." The shorter blonde growled before Sam pulled his door closed as he stood in the hallway with his sister. Mercedes sat down on his bed quietly and listened to their conversation before she shook her head and tried not to laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

"Oh you're right...I took it out and put it back in the holder, it could have been anyones...so the question is, do ya feel lucky punk, well, do ya?" Sam laughed and popped into his bedroom, locking the door behind him quickly as Quinn pounded on the door.

"You ain't gonna feel lucky when I lodge my stiletto into your nostril. Wastin my damn time while I'm watching my shows. You know how much I love Honey Boo Boo, what's wrong with you?!" She yelled through the door before they heard her footsteps walk away and run down the stairs. Sam walked over to his bed and sat down beside Mercedes who was giggling into her hand. He reached over and gently pulled it down and smiled at her.

"Hi beautiful." He leaned over and kissed her cheek before he pushed himself back on to his bed. She blushed and bit her lip as she looked around at the painted walls of his room. One side was an entire Spdierman comic book page and the other walls were adorned with various comic book characters and their names. One wall was still white, but had some pencil drawings on them. "You admirin' my work? Or judgin' it?" He asked her quietly and laughed as she rolled her eyes at him. "Because I know some girls happen to find the artist type kinda sexy." He wiggled his eyebrows at her and leaned his head to the side.

"Uh huh, p-probably the ones who are quiet. You on the other hand..." She left her thought unfinished as she crawled beside him on the bed and leaned back against the headboard. "I can't b-believe you shoved me into your damn room." She smacked his arm and he lifted it to put around her shoulders and pulled her close against him. The smell of his cologne attacked her senses and she snuggled up against his red and black flannel shirt.

"Hey now, it was either that or body check ya into the room and I chose the lesser evil okay. And I didn't push ya that hard, just enough to get into the room...it was more like a flick or a nudge if you may." He laughed and leaned the side of his head on top of hers. It slightly bothered her of how comfortable they were together when they had known each other for such a short time and it often made her nervous that something horrible was about to happen. They had only had their first date the night before and she had been terrified that Jay was going to try to mess something up, but she was proud of him that he hadn't. "Watcha thinkin about little one?" He asked her quietly and she laughed.

"About Jay." She said honestly and slightly yawned, it had been a long morning for her while she listened to her mother bicker with her uncle at six o'clock in the morning about some damn toaster strudel. She wrapped her left arm around his waist and placed her head on his chest. The sound of his heart beat began to lull her to sleep as she held him close.

"Well I'd say that ain't awkward, but...yep it kinda is." He breathed into her hair and then laughed. Her eyes widened and she could smack herself for making him uncomfortable.

"Oh, no. I was just happy he didn't ruin our d-date last night." She could feel him nod and she looked up at him to see him staring off into the distance with an odd look on his face. "What?...d-did he say something?" Sam licked his lips and let his right hand rub the smooth skin of her arm that was around his waist.

"Nah, just that ya'll were best friends and to take care of ya. I think he was just lookin out for ya, but I don't like people assumin that Imma do somethin' when they don't even know me. Don't get me wrong...I don't have the best past with women, but I've grown up quite a bit since then." She moved to sit up and stared into his face before he sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I used to cheat on my girls a lot before, like when I was fifteen and had finally grown into my lips...well sorta."

Mercedes looked down at his chest and refused to meet his gaze. "So, you were a cheater." She stated bluntly.

"Yea I was, I was also young too. But I get that it isn't an excuse and I ain't proud of it, but I want to be honest with ya. I ain't perfect, never have been, never will be. But I'm not a cheater anymore either. I had a girlfriend for two years and we only broke up cause she cheated on me." He chuckled darkly. "Karma is definitely a bitch and her son." He lifted her chin to look at him. "Listen...you don't gotta trust me because you don't know me, but don't already distrust me because of who I used to be. I ain't that little kid no more Mercedes and I want you to do me the favour of not holding who I _was_ against me...I already do that to myself." After a few moments she leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips and touched his face.

"I won't hold it against you, but if we start dating and you start fooling around on me, I will get my uncle Kevin on you so fast your lips will shrivel up with fear. You b-better believe that." He laughed and nodded.

"I wouldn't expect anything else." He placed a kiss to the tip of her nose and she placed her head back on his warm chest. There was a knock on the door and the couple jumped.

"Sam, I hear talkin' in there. Is someone with you?" An older woman's voice came muffled through the door and Sam looked at Mercedes in a panic.

"No ma...just uh...watchin somethin' online. Sorry." Mercedes looked at Sam's face and he looked down at her before he shrugged.

"Son, now I told you to turn your porn down. No one in this house needs to know when you tickle your pickle okay. You leave that knowledge between you and jesus." After a brief moment, her footsteps walked away down the hall and Sam covered his face with his hand.

"Lord, strike me down. Just kill me now please." He moaned into his hand and Mercedes laughed into his shirt. She started coughing and rubbed her eyes. "Not funny." He sighed and dropped his hand allowing her to see his face which was bright red.

"Really? B-because I thought it was!" She laughed again before she yawned. "Man, I'm tired. We shouldn't have stayed out so late talking last night." She rubbed her eye again and Sam held her closer.

"Take a nap then." He grabbed a comic book from his bedside table and opened it with his free hand. "I'll wake you up in an hour."

"Okay..." She said hesitantly. "But please make sure you do, I have to head to Jay's after this. I can't be late." Mercedes yawned once again and closed her eyes.

"Yea, no problem. I'll just read until then." She smiled before she eventually fell asleep on his chest. Sam read his book and half an hour or so later felt his eyes droop. He shook his head and continued to read before he looked at the time and realised he had fifteen more minutes before he had to wake her up. "Fifteen minute snooze, I've done em before...but just in case." He reached over and set his alarm to go off in fifteen minutes before he snuggled down with Mercedes and fell asleep, not realising that in his rush to nap, he had forgotten to turn the alarm on.

* * *

Jay sat with Carrie on his bed and played with her as he continuously watched the clock on his table. She was late. Three hours late. No cake. No call. Just nothing. The only thing that was keeping him from seeing red was the fact that Carrie had been happy enough with the balloons and the cupcakes he had quickly picked up for her once he realised Mercedes wasn't going to show up. He had tied one of the balloons to her wrist which continued to bop him on the head whenever she moved. Jay would exaggerate the pain and his little sister would roll on the bed with laughter every single time. He often had to remind her to calm down so that she wouldn't be too excited and upset her heart. Fortunately his parents had left the house so there had been no further altercations between them since that morning.

"Daddy?" Carrie asked in her small voice. Jay looked down, pinched her cheek lightly, and looked back at the clock.

"Yea Care Bear?" He asked in a slightly distracted way as he tore his eyes away from the clock again.

She pulled gently on a long red strand of her hair. He was going to have to take her to a hairstylist soon and get it trimmed. "Why do you look so sad?" The young girl with the cherub face looked at him with big curious blue eyes. "You always look sad." She stated more quietly and more to herself.

Jay stared at her and felt ashamed and very angry. This was the one day where he had wanted to be happy, where he needed to be happy and the other most important person in the world to him had not only let him down, but Carrie down as well. He reached over and pulled her into a hug. "I'm so sorry Care Bear...I don't mean to always look this way." He rubbed her back and she hugged him tightly before he pulled away. His head was pounding and it was getting harder and harder for him to think clearly. _Where is she? How could she do this to me? SHE PROMISED! She doesn't love you anymore, because you're worthless, nobody loves you, not even your parents love you. __**STOP IT, SHUTUP! **_His inner voice yelled inside of his head, he covered his ears and closed his eyes until it stopped. He was crying as he slowly opened his eyes and looked at his sister who was staring back at him in fear. He wiped his eyes on his sleeve and forced a smile. "Sorry Care Bear...I'm not feeling like myself today. But I love you a lot and happy birthday little sis." She hesitantly smiled and hugged him again.

"Don't cry daddy. I love you, you're my best friend." She whispered quietly as Jay held her against his chest and he silently cried into her hair. He wondered where in the hell was the other girl who had called herself his best friend too.

A/N: Hey folks! I would love to know what you think about this chapter, so if you have time to give me feedback, it would be awesome! Do you think Mercedes should just tell Quinn about her and Sam? Is Jay rightfully mad? Do you think Sam will revert back to his old self? Let me know! Thanks to JG I loves you, thanks for all the help. And thanks to all of you for still reading!


	10. Chapter 10

_One has to lose their sanity, to see the true reality.- Me_

The young man with the dark mass of curly brown hair sat hunched over on the corner of the king sized mattress and stared at the sun that had begun to rise and peek through the branches of the large oak tree. His deep blue eyes were rimmed with red as he had not slept during the duration of the night, his mind had been too busy thinking of what he would need to do next. He reached up and palmed his left eye, rubbing it cautiously as it itched him but slightly stung from having been open for too long. The woman who slept behind him stirred in her slumber and Jay could only assume that she must have been having a nightmare of some sort. After Mercedes had failed to show up and had left him alone to shield Carrie from the disappointing reality about people in the world, he had grabbed his fake identification and headed to the nearest club. He had been able to lose himself in the quick pounding of the music and in between the legs of a woman he had met there before. Like himself, she was desperate for someone to relieve her from the pains of the world and Jay was very willing to help her out in any way he could, even if it had to happen in a dirty bathroom stall pressed up against the cool wall. He quickly glanced back at her naked form before slowly standing up and grabbing his ripped jeans from the pile of clothes that littered the floor. The cool denim material slid up his long legs easily before he adjusted himself and zipped up the zipper. The sound of someone clearing their throat forced him to look up and stare at the older woman on the bed watching him intently.

"Going somewhere?" She asked seductively as she nestled in deeper underneath her comforter. Considering that he was not in the mood to talk, he nodded quickly and grabbed his black long sleeved shirt from the ground. "But hun, it's Sunday...I thought that we could have a little breakfast...you know since I don't have the kids this weekend." He paused as his eyes wandered over to her bed side table with the framed picture of her smiling widely with twin girls who looked to be about nine or ten. "Their dad has them this weekend, which means that there's more time for us to you know..." she shrugged and ducked her head shyly. "...Spend some time together."

Jay quickly pulled the shirt over his head and slid his arms through the sleeves. "Sorry, can't." He said simply without looking at her, he wasn't in the mood to see the disappointment that hung heavily on her face. He looked around for his belt and watched her move off of the bed from the corner of his eyes and approached him. The woman tentatively reached out and touched his shoulder.

"I...please stay. Please?" She said quietly before her fingertips found their way under his chin and turned his face to look at her. His eyes wandered over her body and he saw the bruises that covered parts of her arm. His mouth slightly hung open as he took a step back from her. She followed his gaze and outstretched her arms to look at the same purple red bruises that covered them. A light chuckle escaped her lips as she looked up at him. "I guess we had a lot more fun last night than I originally thought." He moved towards her and gently touched the marks he had made. Looking at them made his stomach turn as he felt ashamed for the way he had handled her the night before when the pain had been so fresh in his soul.

"Shit, sorry, I didn't mean to do th—" His words were cut off by her soft lips on his own.

"It's okay." She smiled and Jay tried to rack his brain for her name, but couldn't come up with anything. "You can make it up to me by staying to have a nice hot shower and some breakfast." He was about to decline her offer again but stopped himself when he looked into her eyes and saw the raw need there, he probably didn't think she would be so eager to have him there if she knew he was only about seven years older than her own daughters. Her hands slid along his chest and stomach as she leaned forward and kissed the side of his neck, "I'll make it worth your while." She whispered against the sensitive skin. He rolled his eyes and sighed before he pulled off his shirt and flung it back to the ground.

"I really can't stay long. Let's shower and go from there." He unconvincingly grinned at her. The older woman smiled triumphantly as she slid her hand into his own and dragged him off to the bathroom that was connected to the bedroom. When they had finished, he offered her his thanks and numbly headed back to his house to take care of his little sister and make her something to eat. Although he had just showered, he knew that he was going to take another one before he even attempted to interact with Carrie. He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out his cell phone to see the ten missed calls and twenty unopened text messages from Mercedes. Ignoring them, he went straight to his phone book and deleted the older woman's number as he had no intention of seeing her again. He was honestly just fed up and he was tired. Jay decided that he would speak to Mercedes when he was ready to and he hoped for her sake that she respected that.

* * *

Jay tiredly watched the essay slowly print in his room as he sat on his bed and waited for all ten pages to be finished. He had spent another sleepless night working on the history assignment that needed to be personally handed in that Monday morning if he ever wanted to get out of that school and graduate. A long loud yawn escaped from his lips as he collected the papers and stapled them together before stuffing them into his binder. He grabbed his back pack and quickly glanced at the window across from his room, but immediately looked away as the anger began to bubble up within him. Shaking his head he hurried down the hall, checked on Carrie, and headed to the kitchen to grab an apple for lunch before heading to his car. He threw everything into the backseat, stuffed the apple into his mouth as he reversed, and sped off towards the school. This was one of the few days where he would actually be forced to attend all of his classes if he didn't want to get suspended according to their schools policy. It never made sense to Jay that they would suspend a student for not going to school, wouldn't they want to _make _the student stay in school rather than to keep them out?

He found a parking spot along the side of the road across from his school and slowly made his way up the steps at the front of the school. As he made his way down the hallway towards his class, he heard giggling and the mention of his name. When he turned to see where it had come from, he found himself staring at Sugar Motta who was looking back at him as she gossiped about their date, to some girls he didn't recognize, by her locker. She smiled and waved at him which alerted the other females to glance back at him with looks of disinterest. He uncomfortably tilted his chin up quickly before turning back around and continued to his history class. The schools' warning bell hadn't rung yet for the morning, so there weren't many people in class as he placed his assignment on the teachers' desk. He ignored the staring eyes of his peers who were already in there with him and took a seat in the back corner of the room as he waited for the teacher and more people to trickle into class. Jay folded his arms on top of his desk and laid his head on his strong arms, letting his eyes rest like they hadn't been able to do in a long time. A light tap on his shoulder woke him up and he quickly lifted his head expecting to see his teacher, but instead came face to face with Mercedes. Heat rose to his face and his eyes narrowed as he looked at her.

"Jay..." She wrung her hands and he could tell by her eyes that she had been crying, but he wasn't in a state of mind to honestly care. "Can we talk p-please?" His fists clenched and he placed them on his lap under his desk. She moved closer to him and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"I _don't _want to talk to you." He said quietly and tore his eyes away from her to stare straight ahead.

"B-b-but I want to explain what happened on Saturday." She pleaded with him and he closed his eyes to contain his anger in any way that he could. He wasn't ready to speak to her as yet, he hadn't had enough time.

"Mercedes go away. I'll talk to you when I'm ready." He turned his head and glared at her. "Right now, I'm not ready and you need to give me my space." He spoke through clenched teeth and he could see her slightly move back from him and then watched her hesitate. "I'm serious. Get away from me, it's not the tim—"

"Jay, I know you're mad and you have every right to b-be mad okay, I fucked up but I—"

Jay quickly stood up and caused his chair to fall backwards on the ground with a loud crash. The other students in the classroom jumped from the surprise and turned to stare at the two teenagers in the corner. His body slightly shook and his migraine attacked him with a vengeance. His brain felt like it was splitting in half as he tried to block out what she was saying. "Just stop!" He growled and attempted to move past her, he silently pleaded for her to get away from him, but she continued to move closer.

"If we d-d-don't talk now, you'll never t-t-talk to me!" She began to cry and Jay blindly pushed past her in his attempt to get out of the school, he couldn't be near her right now, not when he was feeling so confrontational and explosive. Mercedes reached out and grabbed his arm. He violently pulled his arm out of her grip and snapped.

"DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!" He screamed at her. The entire class fell silent as they watched what was going on, one of the students ran out to find their teacher before something bad happened. "WHERE WERE YOU?! HUH?! WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU MERCEDES?! WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I NEEDED YOU? "He moved closer to her and she quickly stepped back. "YOU PROMISED ME! YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD BE THERE AND THEN YOU DIDN'T EVEN FUCKING SHOW UP! YOU KNOW WHAT THAT DAY MEANT TO ME!" His hands balled into fists as they hung by his sides.

"I wanted to b-b-be there b-b-but I fell asleep!" She cowered away from him in fear. Jay paused for a moment and then something inside of him clicked.

"You were with _him_...weren't you?" he said in a dangerously low accusatory voice.

"Jay..." she squeaked out.

"Answer me." He growled out as Mercedes moved behind the desk that he had been sitting at and she used it to form a barrier between them.

"I...I just..." She didn't know how to answer without making him angrier than before.

"ANSWER ME!" He roared and slammed his fist against the wooden desk causing everyone in the room to flinch. Jay could see a guy coming closer to them and turned his head to stare at him.

"Dude...chill alright, let's just...stop this before someone gets hurt..." Jay cracked his neck from side to side and moved towards the student just as the teacher ran in with the person who had gone to get him trailing behind.

"Mr. Costella...what is going on here?" The balding teacher stared at him as if he were a wild animal in need of containment. Jay's eyes began to water as the pain in his head began to increase while he stood there trying to figure out what he needed to do. He reached down, grabbed his bag from the ground, slung it over his shoulder, and ran out of the classroom and eventually out of the school. Everyone would know what happened that morning between him and Mercedes and the truth would be twisted as usual. He didn't go to school often enough to care, but he was definitely going to have to keep a low profile for a few days or even weeks. The curly haired man slipped into his car and closed his eyes as he willed his headache to go away before he even attempted to drive. Frustration overcame his body as he replayed the events in his mind. He had told her to leave him alone, to go away, but she didn't listen to his warnings. Yet, the fear and panic he had seen in her eyes had made him feel like a monster, in all the years he had known her, he had never seen that look before. After half an hour or so of no signs of his headache getting any better, he dipped his chair all the way back and closed his eyes and finally let the sleep he had been fighting for days overcome him.

* * *

Mercedes sat quietly in her room and stared at the tree that stood outside of her window. Sometimes she wondered if life would have been different for her and Jay had it never been there. Would they have been as close as they were if that tree had been suddenly cut down? She guessed she would never know now, but in the back of her mind she assumed that they wouldn't have been. She slowly looked away from it and stared at her clasped hands that hadn't moved from her lap in almost an hour. Unfortunately, she had endured an embarrassing long day of strangers coming up to her to ask her if she was okay, and to pry into her life and find out what had happened between the two best friends. She often dismissed them and spent as much time as she could alone in the bathroom. Her phone vibrated beside her on her bed and she didn't need to look down to know that Sam was calling her. Right now she just wanted to be alone with her thoughts and didn't need the blonde to fly off the handle and try to come and protect her. He had apologised over and over again for not waking her up as he said he would have, but she had told him profusely that it hadn't been his fault. They had both been very tired and a mistake was made, they were human, it was bound to happen. She had snuck out of Sam's house, drove back home, and rang Jay's doorbell like crazy only to receive dirty looks from his father and be told that he had no idea where he was, nor did he care. Her eyes burned from the excessive amount of crying she had done all day and all she wanted to do was close them and just go to sleep. But she couldn't go another day not having things be resolved between her and Jay. A heavy boulder felt like it was sitting on her chest as she sat there thinking about what she could do or needed to do. After some deliberation, she finally made up her mind that she was going to make Jay speak to her, one way or another. She got up from her bed and moved towards the open window and stared at the tree in fear. "You can d-do this..." She muttered to herself as she placed her trembling foot on the window sill. Taking a deep breath, she placed her slipper clad foot on the tree branch in front of her as she remained seated on the sill. "So far so good..." She said unenthusiastically as she tried not to look down. For the first time in her life she wondered how Jay mustered up the courage to do this on the regular to come visit her so often. After ten minutes of sitting there trying to convince her body to move, she pulled herself up and stood on the branch. Her arms flew out to the sides in an attempt to steady her as she slowly moved across the branch, only looking down when truly necessary to. The wetness on her face told her that she was crying once again, but she didn't dare wipe her eyes as she made her way to the body of the tree which she clung on to for dear life. Her body shook with a deep fear as she silently cried and pressed her face against the rough bark. She could hear the rustle of the leaves and the sound of the branches creaking as her eyes stayed shut. "I'm going t-to d-d-die here..." She said quietly to herself before she heard the branches creaking much more loudly than before. _The branches are breaking...the fucking branches are breaking!_ She screamed and panicked internally as she clutched on to the trunk much more tightly than before. The limb she stood on dipped slightly and she sent up a quick prayer to God to let her die fast. Warmth pressed against her back and enveloped her where she stood, she wondered if she had already died and hadn't realised it yet.

"Mercedes..."Jay's breath brushed against her ear as he pressed against her back in an attempt to stop her from shaking. When she didn't answer, he placed his chin on her shoulder and looked at her face. "Mercedes." He said more loudly this time and her wet eyes slowly opened. "What are you doing?" She stared into his face and then closed her eyes from the wind.

"I...I wanted you. And I d-d-didn't know how to get you." She whimpered. Jay sighed and slightly pulled back from her to try to figure out how he was going to get her back into her room. "Jay..." She whispered and he moved against her to hear her. "P-please d-don't let me fall." She opened her eyes to stare deeply into the blue ones that intensely looked back at her.

"I won't. I promise you that I'll never let you fall okay?" He whispered closely against her skin. "Do you trust me M?" She nodded and he kissed her cheek tenderly. "Okay...I need you to let go of the tree and turn around alright." Mercedes hesitated for a moment and then nodded once again. "Look, I'm putting my arms on each side of the tree, so just turn around in my arms. You can use them to hold on to." She reached out and slowly turned around so that her back was pressed against the trunk and her chest was against Jay's. "See, not so bad right?" He smiled at her and if she hadn't been so scared she would have smiled back. "You're doing great. Alright now I'm going to turn and I want you to hold on to my waist very tightly after I do."

"What if you fall?! What if I make you fall Jay!?" She began to panic as the wind whistled through the branches.

"Then I fall M" He shrugged. "The important thing is that you don't, now hold on to my waist. We have to move quickly." With a loud audible gulp, she reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Good." With one solid move, Jay moved fast across the branch before Mercedes could even process what was happening and he held on tightly on to the windowsill and hoisted himself inside. A stunned Mercedes held on to the sill before he quickly helped pull her inside where she slunk to the floor, trembling over what had just happened. Jay rubbed her back as she stayed on all fours shaking for the moment. When she felt better he helped her to her feet and steadied her by holding her arms. She pulled him into a tight hug and pressed her cheek against his chest.

"Jay...I love you so much and I'm so sorry." His body stiffened under her words and he gently pulled her off of him.

"See you later Mercedes." He moved to head back to the tree when she ran in front of the window. He narrowed his eyes and then pinched the bridge of his nose. "Move." He commanded her and she shook her head.

"I took a nap at Sam's house okay. It was supposed to b-be a short nap and he was going to wake me up b-but the alarm didn't go off. It was an accident and I feel horrible that I wasn't there for you!" The expression on Jay's face was unreadable for a moment so she continued to speak. "I know how much you had p-planned for that p-party and I know your parents suck ass pretty much. I should have been there."

"So he was supposed to wake you up and he didn't and you _chose_ to nap before the party?" He shook his head. "I see where your loyalties lie Mercedes and it's obviously not with me or with Carrie but with your fucking precious Sam." He moved her to the side and headed to the window. "I hope he was worth it." Mercedes reached out, grabbed him, and shoved him on to her bed. She was tired of him always assuming that she was choosing sides all of the time, when in all honesty she was just trying to be a teenager.

"This has NOTHING TO D-DO WITH CARRIE OR SAM, THIS HAS EVEYTHING TO D-DO WITH US AND YOUR JEALOUSY THAT I HAVE MY OWN LIFE JAY!" She screamed at him. "WHY CAN'T I BE HAPPY WITH OTHER P-PEOPLE?!" She placed her hand on her chest and realised that she was very much out of breath. "We both d-deserve to be happy Jay." He slowly looked up at her and shook his head.

"You broke your promise to me and to Carrie for him...so how fucking dare you say it has nothing to do with her!" He yelled back at her. "It has EVERYTHING TO DO WITH CARRIE!"

"Carrie isn't here Jay! Sam isn't here! Nobody's here right now, it's just you and me! Like it always was!" Jay pushed himself off of the bed and moved towards the window when Uncle Kevin flung the door open, ran into the room, and peered at the two teenagers standing there. The shorter man wielded a pair of scissors and nun chucks. Mercedes covered her face in frustration and Jay glared at the other man.

"Listen here SHIRLEY MUTHERPUCKIN TEMPLE! CURLY SUE! BIG HAIR MCGEE! Aight!? Now I'm tired of your white ass coming to my turf and yelling at my fam like you taken us back to the olden days okay? As my man Martin said and I quote, WE FREE AT LAST THANK GOD ALMIGHTY WE FREE AT LAST!" Uncle Kevin pointed a short finger in Jay's direction. "You see this chip in my tooth mother fucker!? I got it from catching a bullet with my TEEF okay, with my got damn teeth while I ran away from the po po when I was 5 years old after stealing a box juice okay?!. I ain't scurred of what your ass gon do!" He crip walked towards Jay who rolled his eyes in annoyance. "You see this tear shaped scar by my eye?! That's for my homies, I carved it myself with a dull butter knife bitch! Who knows what I'm gon do next! Now your ass needs to take a couple of seat at yo ownnnnn house, we ain't got no seats for you, this ain't GOLDIE GON GET LOCKED UP AND THE THREE HARES, WRONG STORYBOOK MAN!"

"Just shut up already, I'm leaving." Jay spat out.

"Good, get yo ass over on your own GRASSS. Oh and I know what you been smoking lil man, now imagine if the police got an anonymous tip!" Jay moved quickly across the room and closed the gap between himself and the older man.

"Jay!" Mercedes was about to move forward when her uncle put his hand out for her to stay put. Uncle Kevin started to laugh before he maniacally swung his nun chucks around.

"You ain't gon do shit!" He said confidently before he lost control of the weapon and clipped himself on the side of his head. Both Jay and Mercedes flinched at the sound of the nun chucks meeting skull. They watched as a lone tear slipped out from his eye as he stood there silently showing no sign of pain.

"Uncle Kev...are you okay?" Mercedes asked in shock.

"I'm...I'm good baby girl." He reached up and touched the side of his head to see a little bit of blood on his fingers. "Is that blood?! That's blood right? Mercy tell me that ain't blood! I'm a crip, I can't have no blood!" The older man loosened up and fainted to the ground at the sight of his own blood. Mercedes ran to his side to help him out and then turned to look at Jay.

"I think we need some time apart from each other." He stated bluntly before he turned and headed out the way that same way he had come in.

A/N: Woo update! I hope you guys enjoyed it, as always please leave me some feedback or even love...yes leave love, I like love lol pm me, review, whatever you got to do, just let me know what you thought! And I'm not sure if I ever clarified but Uncle Kevin is indeed Kevin Hart, that's his FC J Thanks again and thanks to JG for everything.


	11. Chapter 11

_One has to lose their sanity, to see the true reality.- Me_

Mercedes sat quietly on her bedroom floor and kept her eyes closed as she listened to the intense sound of his heart beating against her back. She could feel his body heat through their clothing as she pressed her back against his firm chest. His hair tickled her cheek as he buried his face against the smooth skin of her neck as he slowly inhaled the vanilla scent of her body lotion. His firm chiselled arms wrapped around her middle as each of his legs remained bent on both sides of her body. Her own legs stretched out in front of her as she enjoyed the comfort and support he offered her without mumbling a single syllable. He moved the tip of his nose against her skin and gently placed small kisses on any exposed spaces he could find.

Laughing, she lightly smacked his right leg. "Sam! You're tickling me!" She giggled and opened her eyes, slightly turning her head to see the mischievous grin spreading across his plump lips. "Uh huh I see your game, but unfortunately for you, I d-don't want to play." Sam moved his hands from her stomach, wrapped his legs around her, and began to tickle her sides causing her to squeal in delight. "SAM EVANS!" She wiggled around between his legs as she tried to break free from his hold.

He laughed wickedly behind her as he continued to find her sensitive spots. "Hey now, time flies when you're havin fun hun." Mercedes found a spot under his knee and pinched hard on the soft flesh she met there. Sam's legs sprung open and he rubbed the now sore spot. "Foul! You treatin me so bad and I came all the way here to help ya with your homework and stuff." He pouted as she turned around in her spot and looked at him.

She raised her eyebrow and laughed. "You've b-een here for thirty minutes and haven't d-done one thing to help me with my homework. You only said that to get my uncle to let you come up here with me." Sam's jaw dropped and he pretended to be shocked.

"What a bold face lie Ms. Jones. Did ya not sift through your bag looking for a pen on our way here?" Mercedes narrowed her eyes and hesitantly answered yes. "And did I not give ya a pen that was lying around in my truck?" Mercedes sighed and nodded wordlessly. "EXACTLY! Therefore, I have done at least _one thing_ to help ya with your homework."

"Have I used said p-pen for homework?" She challenged him and lightly poked his chest with her finger.

"Hey now, I gave ya the tools, not my problem if ya chose not to use them." He pulled her hand towards his face and kissed the menacing finger. The sound of someone clearing their throat at her open door made them both look towards it to stare at uncle Kevin who was staring back at them. His eyes were wide and focused on the two teenagers sitting on the floor.

"Why...pray tell, am I hearing a whole bunch of noise coming out of this room? All I should be hearing are the sounds of the gears creaking away in your damn heads." He put his hand on his hip and moved one leg forward. "The sounds that I was hearing were the sounds of things ya'll should not be doing in this god damned house. Cause if I'm not doin it, then ya'll definitely not doin it."

Sam cleared his throat and glanced at Mercedes. "Sir, we obviously weren't doin homework, but we definitely weren't havin sex." Uncle Kevin narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to the side.

"Excuse me?! When did I mention sex young fella? See you mentioning it...tells me, that you was thinking of some improper shit with my niece aight, and I ain't havin that happenin up in my mother fuckin house!" Mercedes inwardly groaned at the fact that the sex topic had been brought up with her uncle. Her sister had warned her years before never to bring up anything sex related while their uncle was around, but she had never explained why. "That's the problem with you young people these days, ya'll are all in a rush to be doing the road runner with four backs. You needs to slow it down and park that shit up. Now let me tell you something..." Mercedes opened her mouth to stop him from continuing with whatever tangent he was about to go on, but he put his hand up to silence her. "Now listen baby girl, you gotta hear this alright, relationships are like farting, If you push too hard... things could get messy real fast. That's how them teens get pregnant and end up with dey asses on 18 and knocked up okay, now you see your grandma had your dad at 19 and don't get me wrong or nuthin, cuz I love Gav, I'd give that fool a rib any day, but had she been older, her eggs woulda been a lot more ripe and developed and your pops wouldn't be as stupid as he is today."

Mercedes scratched the side of her head and did quick calculations in her head. "B-but Uncle Kev...you're older than my d-dad." The couple on the floor watched as the look of panic crossed his face and then settled back down to annoyance.

"Alright alright, I see what you're sayin there Cedes, but I was the only exception to that rule, because I was born after my ma's due date, your dad on the other hand was a premature baby. So logically, I may not have been the ripest egg, but I was well done. Hell I didn't come out until like an extra week later, so you could say I was a bit over cooked but good. If I was an omelet, I'd still eat me." Sam could feel Mercedes tense up against his body and thought quickly about how they could change the subject. He noticed the band-aid on the side of the older man's head.

"Uh, what happened to your head sir? Did ya fall or somethin?" Mercedes let out a sigh of relief and promised herself that she would pay Sam back with a long kiss later.

Uncle Kevin reached up and touched the side of his head where the band-aid clung to his scalp. "Nah man that Jay dude came up in here and kicked me in the side of the head, now I don't remember seeing his foot or nothing but I'm sure that shit happened aight. He was like Flash, just a blur, right cedes? He came at me so fast and bap knocked me right on the side of the head."

Mercedes rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. "Jay didn't do anything. Uncle Kevin knocked himself in the head with a nunchuck trying to protect me from nothing." Sam let out a laugh and immediately shut up when her uncle set his eyes on him. Mercedes sighed as her thoughts drifted over to the boy next door. Her window had been locked and covered for days, it all felt weird to her.

"_Anyways_, I got hurt tryin to protect my loved ones! Even if they're ungrateful!" He stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked on the back of his heels. "Now, before I leave, ya'll are _not_ allowed to be remakin any 90's R&B music videos up in here today aight, I see everythin wrong with a little bit of bump and grind, you are not allowed to be riding his pony no matter what Ginuwine be telling ya'll asses, and if I see you touchin my niece man I promise you that your gonna see my face with bone thugz and harmony singing me back up at tha cross roads. Cause little girl he aint whitney, he ain't always gonna love you. Who gon be there if you get knocked up? As my man Keith Sweat said, Nobody." The couple on the floor stared speechlessly at the man in front of them. He scratched the back of his neck and nodded his head to himself before throwing his arms in the air, "I'm hungry. Peace." With that he turned and quickly walked out of the room, heading downstairs.

Sam scratched the side of his face as Mercedes firmly shut her eyes and shook her head in embarrassment. "Was I supposed to know what he was talking about because he lost me at the 90's R and B something?" Mercedes laughed and planted a soft kiss to his lips and sighed.

"I'm sorry...he's family so...we can't murder him without us b-being the prime suspects." It was Sam's turn to laugh as he pulled her into a hug and held her close to him.

"It's cool. I like him...he's definitely somethin." Sam chuckled against her hair.

"Sam?" She asked quietly, slightly hoping that he hadn't heard her.

"Yea?"

"What are we?" She pulled back and looked at him. "Are we really good friends who kiss sometimes or...?"

"Well I thought we were dating, but if ya want to be really good friends who kiss sometimes...we can swing that way too." He smiled at her and she looked down and blushed.

"No, I like the d-dating part." She shyly looked up at him from under her lashes. He reached out and rubbed his thumb gently across her cheek before he leaned forward and captured her lips in a searing kiss.

"I like that part too...that and the kissing, the kissing part is awesome." They both laughed and cuddled together on the floor for a bit longer before Mercedes eventually got up and did her work.

* * *

Mercedes stood at her locker and grabbed the books she would need for her history test in two days. She hummed to herself as she stuffed the items into her already crowded bag and jumped almost a foot into the air when someone hugged her from behind. She spun around and smiled at a very excited Quinn, who was still wearing her cheerleader uniform. Mercedes had barely seen her around lately because Quinn's coach had been working the squad into the ground the last few weeks, plus Mercedes secretly thought that Quinn was trying to distance herself from the Jay drama and she honestly couldn't blame her.

"Hey lady, what lovely little tune are you hummin over here?" Quinn asked as she linked arms with her friend. Mercedes' raised an eyebrow and laughed, she knew that tone of voice anywhere.

"Q, what is it that you need from little old me?" Quinn placed a hand to her chest and her jaw dropped in a pretend shock. It took all of Mercedes will power not to point out that she looked just like her older brother.

"I am shocked that I can't just come up to one of my best friends, who might I add, I have come to love dearly like a sister, and just compliment her humming voice." Mercedes sighed and gave the pixie like blonde the benefit of the doubt.

"You're right. I'm sorry." She slung her bag over her shoulder and racked her brain for the song she had hummed. "Oh, How d-did you get here by Ms. D-deborah Cox. It's an oldie b-but a goodie." She started to walk towards the school entrance, but Quinn blocked her by standing in front of her.

"Wow, I loved your hummin, it carried all the way down the hallway, did you notice that? I bet you have an amazing singin voice Cedes." Mercedes put her bag down on the ground and folded her arms across her chest before she cocked her head to the side.

"Listen here lady, I am not joining that d-damn Glee club." Quinn looked crestfallen and Mercedes shook her head. "Nope, I'm not falling for that puppy eyes trick okay? I told you I can't sing and I d-dont want to be anywhere near Lopez."

"Cedes, I get that! I know how she treated ya way back then, but I'll make sure that she stays far away from you or I'll pull off her fake hair I promise." Quinn clasped her hands together and put them under her chin. "We're missin a member and we are so close to nationals! You don't even have to sing, you can honestly just hum in the background the entire time. Hell, you can just lip sync it all." Mercedes sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Please Cedes...I'd do anything for ya. I'd even listen to you talk about you know who, and I ain't speakin bout old voldymort. I'd GIVE YOU A LUNG CEDES!" Mercedes laughed and rolled her eyes before she nodded.

"Alright...I'll d-do it." Quinn jumped into the air and pulled Mercedes into a bone crushing hug. "I can't do it if you squeeze me to d-death first." Quinn let her go and then laughed.

"Oops, my bad." She took Mercedes' hand into her own and dragged her down the hallway. "Everyone's waitin on us let's go."

"Wait, girl you set me up!" Mercedes jogged behind her as they headed to the music room.

"Nah, I just knew ya wouldn't let me down." Quinn looked back and winked at Mercedes, who in turn grumbled as she was half dragged down the hallway.

"I b-better be compensated with some hair accessories or something." She mumbled under her breath as they made their way to the door. Quinn peeked in through the little window excitedly.

"I'm going to introduce ya the proper way." She let go of Mercedes' hand and ran into the room. Mercedes stood outside and considered running in the opposite direction, but couldn't risk hurting Quinn. She took a few deep breaths and watched as the blonde motioned for her to come in. Sending a silent prayer up to the sky, she pulled on the handle and walked into the room to find everyone sitting and silently staring at her. "This is the woman who has saved all of our behinds and we're gonna treat every single hair on her dainty head with respect..." Quinn looked at Santana was rolling her eyes. "You got that?" Everyone nodded in unison.

"Can we stop being so creepy and actually welcome her properly now Quinnzilla?" Mercedes looked at the speaker, Noah Puckerman, in surprise.

"Yea, can we actually hug her and thank her for joining us now?" A pretty young Asian woman spoke up from her seat. Mercedes was shocked that people were actually being kind to her. She had always been warned that these were the people who would try to hurt her in some way, because they weren't different like her and Jay.

Quinn turned and looked at her best friend. "Is that cool with you Cedes?" Mercedes nodded and looked at the group.

"B-bring on the love p-people!" She laughed and everyone in the room hopped out of their seats and introduced themselves to her. Puck walked up to her and her smile slightly faltered.

"Hey...not sure if you remember me but..." He began to say.

"I know who you are...I remember you from elementary school. You used to call me stuttering Cedes."

He stuffed his hands into his jean pockets and bit his lip. "Yea, about that...I'm really sorry that I pushed you around back then. It wasn't cool. Fuck, I'm trying not to flunk out of school as we speak you know? People call me dumb and crap like that, so I know it doesn't feel good. I shouldn't have made fun of your stutter. What I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry about that stuff." Mercedes stared at him in shock for a moment before she smiled and gave him a hug.

"We all make mistakes right...we just have to grow up and try to make them right sometimes." He grinned and nodded at her.

"You still cool with that curly haired guy?" Mercedes felt as if a fist twisted inside of her at the question. She had no idea on how to even answer it.

"Hey Puck...can you show me the songs that you guys are d-doing?" He smiled widely at her and brought her over to a book that was on the desk in the middle of the room. After he had shown her, the group practiced voice warm ups and Mercedes sang the songs that she was familiar with. She loved to sing since it was the only time where she could speak without a single stutter. In a way it was freeing for her. After everything was done, they all discussed the next meeting date and gathered their things to head home. Quinn put her arm around Mercedes' shoulders and smiled widely at her as they walked down the hallway to the blonde's locker.

"You woman have been holdin out on me miss Aretha!" Quinn laughed and gently bumped her hip against Mercedes'. "I didn't know you could sing like that!" Mercedes shook her head and blushed.

"I...I d-don't know...I can d-do operatic too...just throwin it out there." Mercedes laughed and then quickly changed the subject. "So you and P-puck looked chummy in there." Quinn's face turned beet red as she grabbed her coat from her locker.

"Uh, well we did have one date...but he's a player and I'm not into that. I want to find a nice guy, not just settle for one." She pulled her cheerleading uniform pants on under her skirt. "Mike Chang, you know the dancer guy, was looking at you and your _assets _all practice." Quinn laughed and poked Mercedes arm. Mercedes laughed and covered her face with her hand out of embarrassment. "But I told him you were seein someone, so he had no chance in hell." Quinn zipped up her coat and Mercedes stared at her in confusion.

"You know I'm not d-dating Jay right?" Mercedes shifted on her feet and Quinn closed her locker.

"I didn't mean Jay, I meant my brother, who you have been not so secretly datin." Mercedes stared at Quinn in fear as she tried to read her expression. Quinn burst out into laughter and shook her head. "I'm not mad at ya'll I think it's cute. I don't know why you'd lower your standards but hey, we all fall from grace sometimes." She winked at Mercedes and continued walking down the hallway.

"Q...I'm sorry...we should have told you...how d-did you know though?" Mercedes jogged to keep up with her.

"Girl I can recognize your perfume anywhere and it's been all over my brother for weeks. Now my first thought was that he was cross dressin, cause Sam has always been a bit odd sometimes. So I was bracin myself for him to come out gay! But then I did more investigatin and I saw your shoes at the back door in my house one time...ya'll really suck at bein sneaky. But it's cool, I don't know any sane person who would want to tell anyone they're datin Sam." Mercedes laughed and shook her head.

"Thanks...for not b-being mad. I p-promise you know everything else." Quinn opened the school doors and they walked outside into the cold evening. Quinn smiled and gave her friend a huge hug.

"I know Cedes. It's cool. Plus I made you join glee club...trust me when I say we're bout even now." Mercedes laughed and gave her friend another hug before they parted ways. She headed towards her car and paused at the door for a moment. For the first time in her life she felt like she was finally a part of something. She brushed the tears that fell from her eyes as she realised that the one person who she wanted more than anything to share her happiness with was nowhere in sight.

A/N: Because you guys gave me so many AMAZING REVIEWS I decided to give you a new chapter and a whole lot more uncle Kev. This was a shorter chapter, but I guarantee you that the next ones will be longer and more intense...it's about to go down! I hope you enjoyed it, and again, I lovvvvves feedback, reviews, anything I like it! Thanks to my partner in crime JG, thanks for reading!


	12. Chapter 12

Mercedes walked through the aisles of densely packed clothing racks and lightly touched the cool materials of the clothes. She wasn't really sure what she wanted to purchase or if she was actually going to purchase anything, but it had been a few weeks since she had come here with Jay and she had hoped that by some form of luck she'd bump into him at the mall. Every day before class she sent him a text in the morning to say hey and every day she received no reply from her best friend. It was disheartening that they had spent a few weeks apart and she had so much that she wanted to speak to him about, but she had no idea where he was. She sighed as she absentmindedly picked up a summer dress that was on sale and put it against her frame. "Did you guys have sex yet?!" The voice behind her said loudly and Mercedes nervously looked at an older woman who had been rummaging through clothes to the left of her who was now giving Mercedes a dirty look. Mercedes turned around and narrowed her eyes at her older sister.

"Gabby! Could you be any louder?" She felt her face flush in embarrassment.

"Hell yes I can be louder, would you like me to be louder? What's wrong about talking about sex?! It's a natural part of life and if you're doing it right, it's a good old time." She said loudly again and turned her head to look at the woman who was shaking her head. "Don't be shaking your head at us ma'am because for you to be here judging us today means that your parents in fact had sex." The woman placed her hand on her chest in shock. "LET'S TALK ABOUT SEX BABY, LET'S TALK ABOUT YOU AND ME, SEX SEX SEX!" Gabby sang and chanted out causing the older woman to hurriedly walk away from the sisters. Mercedes put the dress down, grabbed her sister's arm, and dragged her out of the store.

"Are you trying to get us arrested for harassment or something? You might not live here anymore b-but I still do you know." Mercedes shook her head and started laughing. "You're crazy."

"I really don't know what she's freaking out about. I saw her eyeing down some thongs earlier from the underwear table and I know she picked up two, don't be fooled if we find out she's some closeted freak. See, she didn't think I saw all of that, but I did. Plus it's not really considered harassment since I was just singing a popular song and she just happened to be standing there while it happened. And yes I'm crazy and yes you've missed me." She slung her arm over Mercedes' shoulders and gently knocked the sides of their heads together. "Now answer my question. Have you and big lips McGee had sex?"

"No...and we won't until I'm actually ready for it." She answered honestly as they made their way into another clothing store.

"Well you both seemed very ready the last time I saw you two. And I saw what he was working with as well...so...I approve." Gabby laughed and Mercedes groaned in embarrassment. "What?! He might have been scared but I could see that he's packing a whole lot of ..."

"Gabby!" Mercedes put her hand up and looked around. "Can we not talk about my boyfriend's...you know what? Please."

"What? His penis? Okay we won't talk about his penis then."Mercedes opened her eyes wide with shock and walked quickly away from her sister. "But I'm just saying he's packing more than baby socks in those shorts of his, he's more working with a Toblerone if you ask me. And I know you didn't ask me, but Imma tell you anyways."

"Gabby, I promise I will buy you lunch if you stop talking about his...Toblerone."Mercedes pleaded with her sister and watched as Gabby tapped her finger against her chin and then smiled. She knew the way to get her sister to shut up was with the promise of free food.

"Sounds like a deal Elmo." Mercedes smiled at the old nickname and picked up a nice yellow v neck shirt. "So...has he given you kisses down low yet?!"

"Gabby!" Mercedes threw the shirt at her sister who had doubled over in laughter at her Mercedes' expression. "I will b-beat you with mom's slipper, I'm not p-playing."

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" Her sister put her hands up in defeat. "Okay let's talk about something else then. Oh! I forgot to tell you, I'm dating a guy with dreadlocks from school. He's delicious and I'm probably going to bring him home for Christmas." Mercedes raised an eyebrow and looked at her sister.

"You're going to b-bring him into our house with dad and uncle Kevin there...seriously? Have you thought this through Gabby? B-because uncle Kev might cut off one of his locks or something for DNA purposes and I'm not looking forward to seeing him get arrested on Christmas."

"Oh trust me, Cykeem's been warned. He's studying law with me at school so he's planned out a whole bunch of defences as to why he should be allowed to sleep in the house." She let out a small laugh. "I just told him to be prepared to sleep downstairs by uncle Kevin." Mercedes laughed.

"Or worse, sandwiched b-between dad and uncle Kev on the pull out couch in the living room. _B-boy, why you breathin so damn hard, d-don't think about even getting up to pee you'll have to do your business right here, we ain't got food for you you d-don't live here, who you think you is Bob Marley's grandson?._" She imitated her father and her uncle and the sisters held on to each other as they laughed until they cried at the image of Gabby's boyfriend trapped between the Jones men. "Jay would die if he saw that." She realised what she had said and immediately stopped laughing. Every year Jay would come over and spend Christmas with the Jones, but now Mercedes wasn't even sure that would happen. Gabby noticed the pained expression on Mercedes' face and turned her sister to look at her.

"What's up?" She asked with concern. "Are you two _still_ having issues?" Mercedes looked at her sister and slowly nodded as they exited the store and headed towards the food court. "Damn, that's the longest I've seen you guys messed up like that." Mercedes sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"He's mad at me b-because I missed the party, I get that...but what does he want me to d-do? Go b-back in time and fix everything?" She folded her arms across her chest. "Through our entire friendship I never ever let him down, I always stood up for him against p-people who didn't understand him, I loved him, I was there for him when things got really bad at home, and I make ONE mistake, ONE mistake, and it's over?" She shook her head as her eyes began to sting with unshed tears. "It's not fair...I mean I know why that party was SO important, I know, b-but I can't fix anything if he won't let me... If he won't even talk to me." They sat down in a booth and Gabby held her sisters hands and squeezed them.

"Listen, you made a mistake. You said sorry. There's nothing else you can do or should have to do." Mercedes rubbed her eyes and sighed. "Don't get me wrong, I love Jay like a little creepy brother who sometimes gave me the Addams Family kind of vibe, and I'll always appreciate that he had your back during school...but he needs to grow up and fast. You two aren't those little kids anymore who held hands in the school yard. You're a woman who has a cute boyfriend and now you're a part of that singing group thing at school. You deserve to grow up, you deserve to have a life and it's not that you're saying 'sorry Jay I'm too good for you peace', you keep trying to include him and he doesn't _want_ to be included." Gabby shrugged. "If wallowing by himself in that house is what he wants then that's what he gets, but he best be prepared that you're going to leave him and never come back. He should take this time to get out there and make friends of his own, hell meet some chick...or dude! Whatever the hell he's into. You can't put your life on hold because he's not even willing to keep up." Mercedes listened and turned her sister's words over in her head before she nodded.

"I love him you know." She looked at her hands. "I love him more than anyone. B-but I'm going to start applying for colleges soon, some that will be really far away. And right now I can say that I won't come b-back to see him because I'm angry, b-but I probably would Gabs, I'd come back. He's my b-best friend." She sighed. Gabby lightly tapped her hand and then looked up.

"We'll talk about it more when we get home because we just gained some company." Mercedes turned her head and looked at a smiling Sam approaching them. She hoped her eyes didn't look too bad or else it would have alerted him that she had been close to tears. "Well hey there Macaulay! Long time no see and this time you've graced my eyes with your clothes on. So thank you." Sam laughed and outstretched his hand for a handshake. Gabby rolled her eyes, stood up, and gave him a hug. "I've already seen ya naked, no need for formalities now."

"That's true, ya have seen my manhood." He leaned down and kissed Mercedes on the cheek. She smiled up at him and he grinned back. "Ya'll having a sisterly date today?" He looked between the two women who both nodded.

"Yes we are cowboy, but you're more than welcome to sit beside your girlfriend and join us. I'm in a generous mood today because Elmo's going to buy me some food." Sam was about to slide in beside Mercedes when Gabby put her hand up. "On second thought Mercedes, can you get the food now? So then Sam doesn't have to sit down and get up in two seconds."

"Okay." Mercedes slipped out of the booth and stood beside Sam who placed his hand on her lower back.

"Oh, I can come with ya Mercy." Sam offered as he put his bag with his new video games down on the table.

"No you won't, you're going to keep me some company young fellow." Gabby pointed to the empty spot in the booth where Mercedes had been sitting. Sam gave Mercedes a nervous glance and she started to laugh before she kissed the side of his head. "Don't worry I didn't bring my racket, so I don't plan on hitting any of your balls today." The blonde man hesitantly slid into the booth and Mercedes headed towards the New York Fries area to get her sister and her some lunch.

* * *

Jay walked out of the mall's pharmacy with his prescription firmly clasped in his right hand. His headaches had gotten terrifyingly worse over the last few weeks and even his weed had been unable to help him. There were dark bags under his eyes and he had lost a significant amount of weight. His doctor had been shocked to see the teenager in his office looking the way that he did and had run tests but determined that nothing was physically wrong with him so he had prescribed him some strong migraine medicine. He dragged a heavy hand through his long curly hair and walked quickly through the mall to head to the parking lot.

Late at night when he couldn't sleep, he often climbed out into the tree and just sat there thinking. Sometimes he would tug his leather jacket around him, stare at her closed window, and wonder what she was up to. He had smashed his phone against his wall the night of their fight and hadn't had the energy to replace it with another one since then. Jay missed her, but was too stubborn to forgive her for skipping out on Carries party. Deep down it scared him that Carries heart condition seemed to get worse as time went on. Sometimes it seemed that the more problems Jay dealt with the sicker and more tired she became, but of course his parents never noticed or did anything about it. He narrowed his eyes as he moved through the groups of people and inhaled deeply as he smelled the food in the food court. His stomach began to grumble so he slowed down to see what they had there. He touched the wallet in his pocket and wondered if he should pick some food up for him and Carrie. Jay scanned the food places and eventually his eyes landed on someone very familiar. The corners of his mouth turned up as he watched Mercedes standing to the side of New York Fries slightly tapping her foot to an invisible beat, which was a habit that he had bugged her about relentlessly. He could almost hear her laugh as she thanked the servers and carried a tray of food away with her. She slightly struggled with the weight of it and before he knew what he was doing, he was quickly moving towards her to help. He saw as she moved to a booth along the side of the court and he immediately stopped in his tracks as he watched her lean in to kiss the blonde man sitting beside her. His eyes slowly took in the sight of her sister playfully throwing a fry at the couple. Jay's fists clenched tightly and he could feel the curves of his nails biting into his flesh as he turned and walked away from the scene.

After he had driven home at an insane speed, he parked in the garage and simply sat there in the dark for an unknown amount of time before he slowly slipped out of the car and walked to his room as if he were in a daze. His little sister sat on his bed happily playing with a teddy bear that their mom had given her when she was born. He hadn't seen her playing with it for a very long time. "Hey Care Bear, how are you feeling?" He put the back of his hand against her forehead and felt that it was cool which relieved him, but she still looked off to him. Her hair seemed less red and her cheeks less rosy, but he couldn't figure out why.

"I'm okay. Did you bring me something Jay Jay?" He smiled at the name and handed her the happy meal that he had stopped and picked up for her. She squealed in delight and dove into the bag to retrieve her new toy. "Yay! Thanks daddy!" She gave him a hug and sat back down on the bed.

"Carrie...you know you actually have to eat the food too right?" He chuckled and she gave the bag a side long glance. "Please?" He begged and watched as her lip trembled. "Okay never mind, I'll eat half and leave the rest for you okay?"

"Okay," She smiled happily and played with her new toy and the teddy bear. Jay kicked off his shoes and laid down on his bed. He stared up at the ceiling with a sigh and attempted to fight the numbness that crept into his body. He tried to process his emotions about what he saw at the mall but he could feel nothing, it was as if he could see himself watching Mercedes, but it wasn't really him standing there, just a shell. He closed his eyes as the persistent migraine tormented him. Sometimes he just wanted to open his head, scoop out his brain and throw it away to be free from the pain. "Daddy?..." Came the quiet squeak from beside him.

"Mhm?" He was too tired to correct her anymore, he would be whatever Carrie needed, even if it wasn't his responsibility. His sister shifted beside him, lifted his arm, and laid down against him. He smiled as he noticed how heavy her head was against his chest.

"How come Mercedes doesn't come around to play with us anymore?" The smile slid off of his face and he opened his eyes to stare down at the red crown of his sister's head. He didn't know how to respond to her question, or how to explain to her what had happened.

"Um. Mercedes is really busy with school and...she can't come by right now. But she always asks for you and says hi." He was lying through his teeth and the realisation that Mercedes never asked about Carrie finally dawned on him. She used to ask about her all the time, but now Mercedes never mentioned his little sister, not even to ask about her condition. He fought the anger that boiled in his veins and squeezed his eyes shut as the pain in his head intensified.

"But I miss her. Did I do something wrong? She doesn't like me anymore?...is it because I'm sick..." He heard her sniffle and turned her face to look at him.

"You did _nothing wrong_. Don't ever think you did something wrong Carrie. Mercedes...she's just..." He held his sister close to him and buried his face against her hair. They laid there in silence for awhile before he was finally able to speak again. "I miss her too ..." When she didn't respond to him, he looked down to see that she had fallen asleep in his arms. He sighed, moved from beside her, and pulled his blanket over her sleeping form. He was hungry, but he wanted to get something to drink from the kitchen first before he ate some of the happy meal. Quietly, he stepped out of the room and headed towards the kitchen but he could hear hushed talking coming from the living room. He moved towards the voices and found his parents speaking to each other on the couch. The hairs on his arms stood up and he wasn't entirely sure why, but he felt like something very bad was happening.

"...he's really sick, he's lost weight...the doctor said that something's wrong with him and that we need to get him some mental help James and we both know he's been having...trouble adjusting... since..." His mother looked at her hands as she spoke to her husband who was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, hands over his face. She let out a rattled breath and wiped her eyes. "Since everything happened this summer...I...want to help him...I don't know what we can do but w—"

"Of course something is _fucking_ wrong with him Nora, he broke the god damned table the other day. With a bowl! A fucking bowl Nora. You can still see the damn cuts on his arms." His father cut her off and looked up to glare at her as if she were the cause for everything. Jay's scars on his arms began to itch at the mention of the table; he often forgot that they were even there. His father slightly turned his head to the side and finally noticed Jay standing there. "Well speak of the actual devil." Jay could feel his body shaking with the hatred that he had for the man in front of him. He often hoped that his mom had slept with someone else as his father always accused her of so that he wouldn't be actually related to the scum in front of him.

His mother sat on the couch nervously fidgeting with her hands and his father stood up to face him. "Jason...you're father and I think—"

"We're sending you off to a mental institution in New York City next weekend. Something is very wrong with you and we need you to get checked out." His father folded his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes. "We know that you've missed a lot of school so it won't matter that you won't be returning there for the rest of the year. You'll have to repeat it." Jay's mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water as he tried to process what was being thrown at him. He physically took a step back and fought the urge to run upstairs to his little sister.

"Who the _fuck _do you think you are huh?!" He screamed at his father, "You can't _make _me do anything I don't want to do and I'm not going. You two don't give any shits about me and you're only freaking out because the doctor got involved and that makes you look like fucked up parents." He glared at them and balled his hands up into fists. "Surprise! You fucking are messed parents who don't care about anything else but your stupid money and yourselves. YOU need therapy! Not me." His father closed the distance between them and grabbed Jay by the front of his shirt, lifted him up, and began to shake him hard.

"You. Don't. Talk. To. Me. Like. That. In. My. Own. Fucking. House!" James yelled into his son's face as he violently continued to shake him. Jay clawed at the man's hands and tried to force him to let him go. His head felt like it was about to explode and he thought he was going to throw up.

"JAMES! PUT HIM DOWN!" His mother screamed as she pounded her husband's back with her tiny balled up fists.

"I'm the only one that cares about Carrie! The only one who does anything for her! I need to be here for her! You can't make me go! I won't leave her!" He screamed but immediately quieted down as his food slowly started coming up from the intense shaking.

"Jason you need to go to New York because of carrie, you're so volatile and unsafe, who knows what you'd do to someone!" His mother yelled at him and then proceeded to kick her husband hard in the shin. He dropped Jay quickly on to the ground and grabbed his wife tightly around her arm. Jay clutched his head in pain and squinted at his father as he yelled into his Jay's mothers face. The curly haired teenager scrambled up from the floor and punched his father, with all the force he could muster, against the side of his head. The older man dropped to the ground like a sack of bricks, completely knocked out cold. Jay clutched his hand and quickly walked towards the door as he pulled his car keys out of his pocket with his good hand. His mother ran behind him as he made his way to the garage. "Jason! Wait!" she screamed after him as he slipped inside of his car. He ignored the tears that slid down his face as he turned the car on. She opened the car door and squeezed his arm. "Jason please don't go! Haven't we lost enough?!" She yelled at him. Jason removed her hand from his arm and slammed the door shut.

He rolled the window down and spoke slowly. "The only reason why I didn't kill that bastard in there is because I didn't want to hurt Carrie and have her grow up without a father like I had to do. You tell him to do right by her or I won't be so kind next time." He put the car in reverse and peeled out of the driveway before he headed towards the highway. He didn't know where he was going to go or when he'd get there, but he promised himself that he would never go back to that house ever again.

A/n: So...FEEDBACK!? lol I would love to know what you folks are thinking, any questions or thoughts, etc. I want to thank my best friend JG for helping me plan this and I would like to thank the lovely lady who gave me Jason's back story a long time ago (I can't remember your tumblr name so please remind me) What do you guys think will happen next?


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Hey there folks, please read this chapter very carefully.

Uncle Kevin sat in his own personal living room located in his basement apartment eating his breakfast. His left eyebrow was permanently arched up as he watched re-runs of Jersey Shore on his television. "What in the hell is wrong with these children?! Why are they so orange?! They look like they smell sour." He said out loud as he stuffed scrambled eggs into his mouth. He shook his head as he watched Snooki run around the house in the show. "When the hell did they start letting oompa loompa's out of the factory?" Another female on the show walked into a bar and started making out with a random man. Uncle Kevin pointed his fork at the T.V. and shook his head in disbelief. "See this one girl looks like she brewing a new disease up in her va jay jay _and_ she still gets laid, and yet I ain't seen a lady's coin purse in years..." He shook his head and mumbled. "Don't make no damn sense." The sound of the doorbell caught his attention, but he figured that one of his other family members would get it since it was their house. When the sound came again he rolled his eyes and made his way to the door. Standing on the doorstep was a woman with large blue eyes rimmed with red and bright coppery hair. Uncle Kevin narrowed his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. "We don't go to church, we don't need to find Jesus, we have enough Girl Guide cookies to last us until the next apocalypse, and if you're trying to sell us something else we don't wants it. Good day to you." He finished as he tried to close the door, but the woman pushed it back open and looked down at him. The older man had to admit that she would have been attractive if she smiled or looked a bit livelier.

"Sorry, I don't have the intention of selling anything to you. I'm looking for Mercedes Jones. I know she lives here." She peered over his head and looked into the house for the younger woman.

"I don't know what you think she did, but she was with me every day this month from sunrise to sunset helping me with my business. Now you need to become acquainted with the sidewalk and get to steppin." He attempted to close the door again, but this time the woman pushed the door all the way open and stepped inside. "Mercedes call the police, hide my weed!" He yelled towards the stairs. His niece rushed out of her room and peered down the stairs. "I mean...my herbal medication!"

Mercedes ran down the stairs in a panic and stared at the woman. "Mrs. Costella?...what's...what's going on?" The hairs on her arms stood up as a bad feeling washed over her. Through the entire duration of her friendship with Jay, his mother had never come to her house for anything. Uncle Kevin stood between the two women and folded his arms.

"You know this woman Mercedes?" He asked her, but continued to stare at the other woman.

"Yea, uncle Kev. I d-do."

"Girl you need to get some black friends or something, all I see is white people in this damn house, how am I supposed to meet someone's aunty or something when you only have white friends and shit?...well if you need me I'll be in the kitchen. Don't try nothin." He slowly moved towards the kitchen, but kept his eyes on Jay's mom. Mercedes shook her head and returned her attention to Mrs. Costella.

"Sorry about that, he's...kind of weird." She rubbed her arms quickly and closed the door behind the older woman. The cold that she was feeling wasn't from the outside, it was a result of the fear of seeing Jay's mother there. "Is everything okay?" she asked hesitantly and his mother looked down. Mercedes hadn't seen her look that upset and distraught since that summer.

She sighed and rubbed her hands together, "Have you seen Jason lately?" Mercedes' heart skipped a beat for a moment as her fears were confirmed that something had happened to Jay.

"No...I haven't seen him for a few weeks. We've been fighting so we took a b-break from each other." The look of panic on his mother's face made her all the more nervous. The red headed woman wrung her hands and looked everywhere but at Mercedes. "Why? What's going on with him?"

His mother closed her eyes and let out a long breath. "Jason's been missing for over a week and his father and I...well I figured that you would know where he was because you two are close." Mercedes involuntarily took a step back and her right hand covered her mouth. "His father told me not to call the police and waste their time, but Jason has never been away from home this long and he's..." She didn't finish her sentence, but finally opened her eyes. "He's sick Mercedes, something's very wrong and I'm worried he's done something to himself or to someone else." Mercedes let out the breath that she had been holding and began to shake.

"He's b-been missing for over _a week?_ AND YOU D-DID NOTHING?!" She yelled in anger. "He's your son! How could you d-do absolutely nothing?!" His mother looked as if she had been slapped in the face. "You d-don't d-d-deserve to have a son like Jay, p-p-people like you shouldn't even b-be allowed to have kids!" Tears streamed down her face as thoughts of Jay being dead in a ditch somewhere plagued her mind.

His mother slowly nodded and Mercedes watched as tears fell from her blue eyes. "I know...I...can't fix what has been done, but I can only try to do something now." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and turned to open the closed door. "I don't expect you to but...if you do hear from him, please let me know. He really needs to get help." She handed Mercedes a business card that the younger woman wanted to rip or crumple up in her fist. Mercedes made no promises to her and immediately closed the door once she had stepped out. Shaking, she braced her back against the front door and cried. When she felt arms around her, she hugged her uncle back tightly.

"Well hell, I really liked that kid." He said absentmindedly and Mercedes couldn't help but shake her head at her uncle's insanity.

* * *

Mercedes stared at one of the missing posters that she had made and distributed to people in town, on the inside of her locker door. She had been feeling numb ever since his mother had come to her house days before. After having time to cool down, Mercedes had called her back to talk and together they had gone down to the police station to make a missing persons report. With a sigh, she slowly closed her locker and headed to her car after a long gruelling day. She threw her backpack into the backseat and hopped into her car before she noticed the white envelope that had been placed underneath one of her windshield wipers. Mercedes grabbed the envelope and quickly ripped it open. Her eyes widened as she began to read the familiar messy scrawl.

_Hey M,_

_I wasn't going to contact you before because I didn't want to bug you, but I know you're looking for me and you shouldn't. Just forget about me. I'm not worth the worry. I had to leave, I couldn't stay there and let them keep abusing me and Carrie like that. I didn't know what to do, I don't know what's going to happen, I don't know where to go from here...at least here the headaches aren't so bad anymore...I don't feel like I'm going to explode anymore and the sound of the water keeps me calm like it always has. Please keep an eye on Carrie for me, make sure she's eating, she told me she misses you M...I miss you too. I love you. I'm sorry._

_-J_

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she reread the letter over and over again. "Oh God..." She quickly grabbed her phone, dialed a number, and waited as she heard the ring. Without giving the other person an opportunity to speak, she blurted out. "I know where Jay is."

* * *

Jay sat on the cold dock at his parents cottage and stared out at the dark lake in front of him. The weather was very cold, but it didn't register with him while he sat there. It was as if he were in a trance. His knees were pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them, holding them against his body. The wind ruffled his curly hair and stung his eyes. He regretted writing that note for Mercedes, but he had felt compelled to, like he needed to give her those last few words of closure. He knew that she would continue to look for him, especially if she thought he was dead or if something was wrong, so he thought it made sense at the time to let her know that he was okay. Yet, in the back of his head he knew that she wouldn't stop looking for him and a part of him didn't want her to. He had seen the news report of his disappearance while he was at the convenience store buying supplies and he knew that Mercedes would have been the only one in his life to care about him enough to do make a report. A small smile had graced his lips before he paid the cashier in cash, left the store, and drove back to his town. He had snuck into his house to let Carrie know that he was okay before he made his way to school and left the note on Mercedes car. A part of him wanted to take Carrie with him, but he knew that taking her all the way out there in her condition could have been dangerous, especially if anything went wrong. The cottage was two hours outside of the city and the nearest hospital was an hour away.

During the two weeks he had been there, his headaches had gotten a bit better and he was having them less frequently, but he continuously had the feeling that something was wrong. He couldn't explain what it was, but it felt like something in his chest was slowly and painfully tightening every single day and it scared him. Jay rubbed his chest and stood up to stretch out his tense body. He wondered how long he had been outside and figured it must have been an hour or two based on how dark it was getting. The sound of an approaching vehicle caught his attention and made him nervous. He quickly ran back to his cottage, closed the door, turned off all of the lights and listened. He heard the sound of a car door closing and he waited. Jay looked around and grabbed a bat from the closet, he wasn't sure why his father had even bought one, and it wasn't as if he ever played with his son. The crunch of the grass underneath someone's shoes finally stopped at the door.

"Jay?" He heard her voice, but he couldn't believe it, it had to be in his head. "Jay are you here?" He slowly opened the door and stared out at her. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she wore a winter coat.

"M..." Was all he managed to say as she rushed into his arms and hugged him tightly. He closed his eyes and let her sweet scent envelop him as he hugged her back tightly. "What are you doing here?" He asked in surprise as he stepped outside to see her properly.

"I needed to make sure you were okay." She raised her hand and placed it against his cheek. His eyes closed as he enjoyed the warmth against his face. He missed her. He needed his M and she had found him. She had driven all that way, just to be near him. Jay opened his mouth to speak when he heard more car doors open and close. He pulled away from her and moved towards the sounds. "Wait Jay..." She ran after him.

"Who's here?!" He yelled out and watched as Sam and Jay's mother moved towards them. He turned to look at Mercedes and narrowed his eyes. "What is this?...you brought them here?!" He pointed at the other two. "WHY DID YOU BRING _THEM_!?" He screamed at her. Mercedes flinched at the intense stare.

"Hey! Don't you yell at my woman, alright?!" Sam moved towards Jay. "She came all the way here for your sorry ass and the least ya could do is respect her."

"I told you to stay in the car!" Mercedes said sadly, she knew that the presence of the other two would have upset Jay, but she needed to get him to go home and she couldn't do that alone. "Jay you need to go home...you need to get some help." Jay looked at her as if he had been betrayed.

"I don't _need_ to do anything." He growled at her and moved quickly towards the dock. Mercedes ran after him and grabbed his arm. He attempted to shake her off without hurting her.

"Don't touch her!" Sam yelled and grabbed Jay's other arm.

"Sam D-DON'T!" Mercedes screamed. Jay finally shook her off of him and punched Sam hard in the face, knocking him to the ground.

"Don't you fucking touch me!" Jay spat out. Sam jumped up, ran forward, and knocked Jay off of his feet. The two continued to fight on the ground, punching, and kicking each other wherever they could.

"Jason stop this!" His mother yelled as she stood there in shock. The two men moved from the ground and continued their fight standing. Mercedes screamed at them and tried to pull them apart before someone got hurt. They were now fighting on the dock and it made Mercedes nervous that one of them would fall into the lake.

"Sam, Jay, STOP!" She screamed.

"You're a fucking asshole!" Jay yelled at Sam. "She deserves better than you!"

"Mercedes move back!" Sam yelled, but it was too late. Through their shoving, the two men pushed Mercedes backwards, and she fell into the cold lake with a scream. Sam shoved Jay hard on to the dock and jumped into the water to get her out. The blue eyed man sat on the cold wood transfixed at what he was seeing.

Mercedes' black hair was replaced with red curls bobbing up and down in the water. Her screams were no longer those of a woman, but a young child gasping for air, calling out Jay's name in fear. _He could see her pale face and those bright blue eyes struggling as the water cascaded over her and pushed her back down._

"Carrie..." He muttered as he stared at the water. _Oh God her heart_. _He wondered how she had managed to get so far out, how long had she been out there._ "Carrie..." He whispered again as he stared at Mercedes gasping for air as the cold water enveloped her. _The bright sunlight beamed down on her crown of red hair, he remembered running as fast as he could to her, jumping into the water while screaming out her name, telling her to hold on. _Sam grabbed Mercedes around her waist and hoisted her on to the deck, hugging her close to him once he had pulled himself out. _He watched as she didn't come back up, he swam underneath the water and grabbed her. He tried to swim as fast he could back to the dock with her head above the water, but she was no longer moving. _"Carrie..." Jay cried out again as tears fell down his cheeks while he stared out into the lake. _He pulled her on to the dock and laid her out, pressing hard on her front with his hands, and placing his ear against her silent chest. "No, no, no, Carrie, no please God no, NO, NO!" He screamed in the silent summer morning. Her Care Bear pyjamas clung heavily to her body_. _He plugged her nose and blew air into her mouth, praying that she would open her eyes, praying that her heart would start beating as his tears fell on to her face. "Carrie..." He cried as he hugged her lifeless body against his own and felt the weight of her head press against his chest. "God no...take me instead, please don't take her from me. Please." He cried as he buried his face in her long red hair. "It's all my fault..." He whispered into the air._ "Carrie!" Jay screamed and scrambled up from his spot on the deck. His mother, who had been cautiously watching him from afar, ran to him and wrapped her arms tightly around his back as he re-experienced the most devastating moment from that summer. The moment that he had chosen to forget until now. "NO!"

"Jason!" She held on to him with all of the strength that she could muster as he tried to jump into the lake.

"It's my fault! I forgot to lock the door! I knew she loved the water! I knew it! And I forgot! I fucking forgot! And she's gone! She's gone! Oh my God! Oh... God! WHY?! She was a fucking baby..." He screamed out in pain as he crumpled against his mother. She fell to her knees as she cradled his head against her chest. Tears stung her eyes as she held her son.

"Shhh Jason, it was never your fault, it was an accident." The sad fact for her was that she had never told him that. After everything had happened, after she had seen how he was getting worse, she had never told him that she didn't blame him, because she had. In her eyes, he had taken Carrie away from all of them, he was the reason, but she knew it wasn't true. "I'm sorry..."

Mercedes and Sam sat shivering on their corner of the dock. Mercedes cried for her best friend, she cried for his mother, and she cried for Carrie. Sam had no idea what was going on as he held his girlfriend against him. He was unsure of what to say or if he should say anything at all as he watched three people on a dock, by a lake, destroyed by a little girl's death that he knew absolutely nothing about.

_ One. Has. To. lose. Their. Sanity. To. see. The. True. __**Reality.**_

A/N: Okay so I would love your feedback especially for this chapter, I know one person for sure guessed what kind of happened, but did anyone else guess this? Please review if you have the time and tell me what you thought? Thanks love ya guys, and thanks to JG for planning this with me.


	14. Chapter 14 (Final)

Jay sat in his father's dark, gloomy, quiet study and clung to the teddy bear that he held tightly in his hands. His eyes wandered around the office space with disbelief at the fact that his father would change Carrie's room into such an ugly space, which now included a massive wooden desk and an office chair. He turned around in the cushioned chair and stared at the pictures of Carrie on his father's desk, not missing the fact that pictures of his mother and himself were absent from the collection. A part of him wondered if his father even cared for anyone other than himself, if he had even cared for Carrie, or if it was all an act to look somewhat like a caring human being. He brought the teddy bear to his nose and sniffed the fabric to see if he could still remember what his little sister had smelled like, but the smell had been replaced with his mother's perfume considering that she often slept with the plush toy since the summer. Reaching forward, he picked up one of Carrie's pictures and studied the little face he had been seeing for months. He knew that she wasn't alive anymore and fortunately he hadn't regressed back into his previous state of delusion. But the amount of pain he was enduring, now that he felt her absence, was slowly killing him. Warm tears fell down his face as he stared at the image of his little sister smiling up at him. He quickly began to hyperventilate as the memories of the summer came flooding back. His mother, who had silently entered the room, reached around him and took the frame from his hands and placed it back on the desk.

He looked up at her with reddened eyes and then back down at the desk as he tried to calm himself down. "When did he change her room into..." he waved around at the room, "This...when did he do this?" She sat down on the corner of the desk and let out a long sigh.

"About a month after her funeral." She wrapped her arms around her body as if she were cold and stared at the top of his head. Her hand reached up and made sure that her bun was neat and in place before she spoke to her son. "How are you doing?" She placed her hand on his shoulder and he flinched from the contact.

He stared at the wall across the room from him and narrowed his eyes, "Well, for someone who imagined that his little sister was alive for months when she was in fact _dead_, I guess I'm doing alright. I mean, I'm still here...I haven't drowned myself yet." His lips pressed into a thin line and he shook his head before he stood up.

"Jason, don't talk like that, please." She said in a quiet voice as she looked up at him from her spot on the desk.

He stared back at her with cold focused eyes. "Don't talk like what? I'm telling you the god damned truth. I'm still here, I'm still fighting to be here...even if she's not here anymore, I'm trying to be." He placed the teddy bear down on the desk and turned to walk out of the room. His mother reached up and grabbed his arm. He sighed and let her pull him into an awkward stiff hug against her shorter frame.

"Carrie's here watching over us, she might not be here physically..." She started to say but couldn't finish her thought. Jay pulled away from her and stared down at the familiar red hair.

"She's not here. She hasn't been here for a long time. No one's been alive in this house since she died." He said coldly. "We function, we eat, we shit, we sleep, but we're not living. When she died, we died...or maybe you were already dead before that. I don't know."

She stared at him as if she had been slapped and her eyes widened in shock. "What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"It means that for my entire existence, I always wondered if you ever loved me or if you even knew what love was? I mean...I can't remember ever cuddling with you or having you tell me that you loved me, or that you were proud of me. It was always grandpa that gave me that love." His cold blue eyes held hers, "It was never you or _him_." He said in reference to his father. She looked away and wrung her hands with sadness. "I get that you want to _fix_ this whole thing now that you know that your son is a fucking psycho, but honestly...why bother? If you're doing it because you're scared that I'm going to come back from the clinic and, I don't know, kill you in your sleep or something, then don't worry because I don't have the intention of ever coming back here."

She rubbed her forehead with one hand and spoke quietly, "I was young and I wasn't ready...I wasn't ready to be a mother, I didn't want to be one but my own mother wanted me to be and she made me grow up before I was ready to. None of this is your fault, I understand that, and I can't fix what happened before. But I do love you and I'm sorry that I never made it a habit to tell you or show you...I was so angry with you...after everything." Jay looked at her as she began to cry and found that he felt sorry for her. "It was never your fault that she died, it was our fault that you felt the need to get out of here because of how we were treating you and i-"

"I don't want to talk about this. Let's just carry on with you pretending that I don't exist and just live with that. I'll be eighteen soon, I won't be your responsibility anymore. I'll take care of myself like I always have and then you can pretend that you just never had any kids." He ran a hand through his unruly hair.

"I don't want to do that! I was angry and I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry for the way that I treated you but I just want to be a part of your life, I want to be there for you and I don't want to lose my son. I can't lose you too Jason." She wiped her eyes, "If you choose to never speak with me again after this, then I would never blame you, I would understand. But I beg of you, please don't throw me away. Please work with me on this. I can be better, I can be the mom I should have been, I just need your help." He studied her face for the first time in a long time and he saw bits and pieces of himself there, but he mostly noticed how old she had become over the years. His eyebrows furrowed and he narrowed his eyes.

"Why should I help _you _become someone better when you stood around and just watched me become someone worse? You _knew _that something was fucking wrong and you just let it happen to me like some sort of twisted punishment." He took a step back from her, "I don't owe you anything." He growled at her, his hands clenching to the sides.

"You're right, you don't owe me a damn thing. But you're all I have Jason, you're all I have...you're father and I are getting divorced, which isn't really a surprise, and I want to be in your life." She paused for a moment as she searched for the right words. "If you don't want me to be your mother, please just let me be your friend someday, please let me try to at least be that." They stared at each other for a moment in silence as his eyes searched hers for truth.

"I have to go." He turned around and walked to the door. "There's someone I really need to talk to." She looked at him and slowly nodded. He hesitated and stared out of the study door, his back facing her. "Are you going to visit me at the place?"

She nodded quickly even though he couldn't see it. "If you'll let me come there, I'll be there when you need me to be." After a few seconds, he gave her a quick glance over his shoulder, and a curt nod, before he walked out of the study and made his way out of their house to attend his meeting.

* * *

Mercedes packed her duffle bag with two pairs of jeans, warm sweaters, assorted underwear, and a few pairs of socks. She wasn't entirely sure how long she would be staying with Jay at the clinic, but she wanted to pack enough to at least last her for a week while he settled in. Her teachers at school had understood her desire to go and had given her the work that she would need to complete for the week that she was missing. Since the incident at the cottage, the best friend's really hadn't said much to each other, not knowing what to say or how to say it at that point. But Jay's mother had asked Mercedes to go with him to the clinic to make sure that he would be alright there, she was even going to pay for Mercedes' ticket and hotel stay.

She looked out of her window and stared at the large tree that stood there, which was now covered with a glistening frost, as winter drew near. Her parents had been apprehensive about her going away for the week after they had found out what Jay had been going through, but they understood her need to be there. Mercedes' just wished that she had the courage to tell Sam that she would be going as well. She just didn't think that he would understand her reasoning and would possibly deter her from going, and right at that moment she just didn't think she could handle an argument between them. The sound of the doorbell rang in her ears as she stuffed her toothbrush in a Ziploc bag so that she could pack it away for the flight that night. She tapped her finger against her chin as she wondered what else she would need to take with her from the bathroom. With a sigh, she walked back to her room, stared at the stuffed duffle bag sitting on her bed, and chucked the toothbrush inside.

A light knock came at her open door and she turned around to stare at the blonde green eyed man staring back at her. "Mercy?" Her eyes widened and she looked down at the floor in guilt.

"Sam...hey." She said nervously as she sat down on her bed. He looked over at the bag and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. She took a deep breath and pat the spot next to her on the comforter. He slowly walked over, never taking his focus away from her, and folded his arms across his chest. "Jay's mom asked me to go with him to the clinic tonight for a week...just to make sure that he'll b-be alright there."

Sam slowly nodded and then shook his head. "And you didn't tell me because?"

She stared at her hands and scratched off some of the left over nail polish she still had on her thumb nail. "I d-didn't want to get into a fight with you about it." She looked up into his eyes and registered the hurt expression. "Sam I'm sorry, I was going to come over to your house and tell you..."

Sam ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair and pursed his lips. "You should have told me. I'm supposed to be your boyfriend and you're supposed to be able to talk to me about everythin. I mean, I get that you didn't want no argument with me, but did you really think that tellin me at the last minute was gonna make any of that better?" She rubbed her palms against her thighs and shook her head.

"You're right and I know that I'm wrong for d-doing this in the way that I d-did, b-but...I d-didn't want you to try to change my mind."

"So you just chose not to give me a choice in the matter. I completely understand." He said sarcastically as he tried to fight the temper that was steadily increasing. Of course he would have told her not to go, but only because he wanted to keep her safe and he still didn't understand what had happened out there by Jay's cottage. Mercedes turned her body towards him and took his hands in her own.

"You have every right to b-be mad with me, but Jay needs me right now. He needs someone, he's always needed someone and I was too b-busy to notice what was happening to him. I missed all of the cues that he really needed help and –"

"Who's fault is that?!" Sam exploded, "He's your best friend, not your responsibility. His folks should have been the damn ones to realise that somethin was up with that dude. Why do you have to put your life on hold or feel guilty for livin your life?" He shook his head and took a deep breath as he noticed the pained expression on her face. "Never mind." He sighed, "Forget it. What happened up at the cottage?...I didn't know how to ask before, but...what the hell went on there?" He said more slowly as he looked into her eyes.

Mercedes took a deep breath. "I d-don't really know yet." She answered honestly as she replayed the situation in her head. "Jay's little sister, Carrie, died this summer and for a month or something like that, he b-became really withdrawn, he wouldn't talk to me anymore, he wouldn't come out of his room, and then one day..."She looked towards the tree, "he just climbed into my room and gave me this huge hug. I tried to ask him about Carrie, b-but he would ignore my questions." Sam shifted uncomfortably on the bed. "I thought he just wasn't ready to talk about it and I d-didn't want to p-put him b-back into a bad p-place, so I tried not to talk about her anymore."

Sam scratched his head. "Oh man...but at the cottage..."

"That's where she died." She said slowly. Sam's eyes widened and he slowly nodded as the information processed. "He sent me a letter after he went missing," She got up off the bed and grabbed the letter from her desk and handed it to him, "He told me to take care of Carrie for him...and that's when I knew that all those times that he would mention her and talk about her like she was still here, wasn't him coping with her death. He just honestly thought she was okay...alive." Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought about what had happened to her best friend.

Sam stared at it for a moment and then looked at her. "Mercedes you can't go with this guy, he needs some serious medical help and there's nothin that you can do by goin there with him, somethin bad can happen to you, what if he—"

Mercedes reached forward and pulled Sam into a tight hug. "He would never hurt me." She said close to his ear as she held him. His arms came around and held her tightly. "He needs me and I need to b-be there with him right now." He pulled back to look at her and kissed her gently.

"I'm still mad at you because you should have told me you were at least goin." He sighed as he pulled back from the kiss. "But I guess I get it."

"I'm sorry, I know and I d-don't b-blame you." She closed her eyes as he pressed his plump lips against her forehead and held them there. "I'll tell you everything that's going on while I'm there and I'll be b-back in a week." He rubbed her back in soothing circles and nodded.

"You better come back, or I'm driving my old truck down there and kidnappin you lickety split." He said with a small laugh and she squeezed him more tightly. He kissed her cheeks, her nose, her forehead, and finally slowly kissed her lips again.

They spoke to each other for a few more moments, sneaking in kisses here and there before Sam decided to let her finish packing up and he left to go home. She watched him from her front door, waved goodbye to him as he drove off down the road, and then turned her attention to the house next door. With a heavy sigh, she walked over and rang the doorbell. Mrs. Costella opened the door with a small smile when she saw the teenager in front of her.

"Hello Mercedes...are you all ready to go?" She asked kindly, which was unnerving for Mercedes considering that she had never seen her act like that before.

She smiled back and nodded. "Yea, just a few more things to p-pack, b-but I'll be ready for the flight." She nervously bit her lip. "How are you d-doing Mrs. Costella?" The older woman looked to the side and plastered a fake smile on to her face before she answered Mercedes.

"As best as I can be." She cleared her throat and then looked back at Mercedes. "Did you need something before tonight or..?"

Mercedes shook her head and rocked back on the heels of her feet. "No, I just wanted to talk to Jay b-before everything. We haven't really...said anything to each other since it all happened." His mother nodded.

"He's not here, he's been gone since this morning. So I can't really tell you where he is," she sighed, "I just hope he comes back...He said he had to talk to someone, but I assumed that he had meant you." Mercedes tried not to panic about the new information and forced a smile. She had an idea where her best friend might be and she just hoped that he would actually be there.

"Thank you, um, I'll see you later at the airport then." Mercedes said quickly before she hurried back home and grabbed her car keys. A part of her wanted him to be where she thought he was and the other side of her was scared about what he would do if he _was _there. Without a moment to lose, she hopped into her car and drove as fast as she legally could to get to her destination.

* * *

Jay sat on the cold wet grass with his knees pulled up to his chest, his arms wrapped around his knees, and his face buried against the side of his arm. His arms were beginning to hurt as well as his knees from the position that he had maintained for over an hour. He turned his head and stared at the small angel statue that sat on top of the tombstone.

He sniffed as the tears continued to fall, "You know...I fought mom and dad to put a fairy at the top of the tombstone for you...because I know how much you loved the story about your fairy heart." He licked the tears that had fallen to his lips. "But they thought that it was a dumb idea and they said that nobody puts a fairy on a tombstone." The wind blew through the trees and slightly broke the silence of the cemetery. "It doesn't matter if no one else did it, you deserved to have a fairy..." He cocked his head to the side and stared at the name etched into the stone. "I miss you, you know? I miss putting you to sleep...and I miss fighting with you to eat your food, and reading you stories, and taking you to the park, and and..." He put his hand to his face and shook his head. "Why didn't you listen to me?! I told you I'd take you swimming later, why didn't you just wait?!" He cried harder and shook his head. "Oh God, _why couldn't YOU just wait?!_" He cried out angrily and startled a few birds out of the trees. His eyes wandered over to the tombstone, not too far away from Carrie's, and he stared at it through his blurry eyes. "Gramps, take care of her please...she was my responsibility and...I fucked up, I lost her, I didn't do a good enough job. I know you can do so much better with her. Make sure that she is okay, tell her the story about the dragon and the witch, I could never tell it like you did...I miss your stories gramps, I miss you telling me that everything would be okay..." He rubbed his eyes and positioned himself so that he was lying down on the ground before he closed his reddened eyes that were beginning to sting from the tears.

The sound of footsteps crunched through the frozen grass and he could hear someone sit down beside him. Without opening his eyes, he breathed in deeply and sighed, "How'd you find me M?" He felt her warm hand on his cheek and finally opened his eyes to see the pure concern on her face.

"I don't know...I just had a feeling that you would b-be here with them b-before we left." He brought his hand up and placed it over hers which was still on his cheek. "What were you d-doing here Jay?" His blue eyes bore into hers.

"I haven't been here to see her for a really long time and I wanted to fix that. She never liked being ignored so...I wanted her to know that she's always on my mind and that I'm going to get better some day." He closed his eyes for a moment. "I promised them both that I would get better some day." Mercedes nodded and then moved herself so that she was lying down beside him on the grass, she could feel the wetness and the cold seep through her clothes. "M?"

She turned her head to look at him. "Yea?"

"I've missed you..."He sighed and wrapped his arm around her waist. They were facing each other and were close enough that they could feel each other's breaths on their faces. She smiled sadly at him. "None of this...was because of you." He sighed and sniffed.

"Jay, what happened?"

He stared at her for a moment and then closed his eyes as he thought of where to begin. "My parents were fighting and Carrie was always unhappy and upset...which I didn't think was good for her heart. SO I took her away, I took her to the cottage so that she could get away from that." He shook his head, "Gramps, was my escape and I wanted to be hers, but...she loved the water so much M. Mom used to have such a hard time getting her out of the bathtub sometimes." He lightly laughed. "I promised her that I would take her swimming in the morning, but she got impatient and went in by herself while I was still sleeping." He opened his eyes and stared at Mercedes and her breath caught in her throat at the pain that was there, "I heard her screaming my name...I heard her fighting to stay alive...but she was too far out and the water was too deep...her heart couldn't...it couldn't..." Mercedes hugged him closer to her body and buried her face against his cold neck as she cried for him. "One day I woke up to go to the bathroom, and when I came back to my room, there she was sitting on my bed in her pj's." His eyes widened at the memory. "She was holding her teddy bear to her chest asking me for some juice...that's when all of the headaches started to happen and I didn't even realise why. None of it made sense, but...I just wanted her to be there so badly. I wanted a second chance to fix it all, to protect her like I didn't before." He shivered from the cold and the emotions, "When I took her to the cottage...I just wanted to get her away from the pain in that house, I wanted her to feel happy and alive...but I ended up bringing her to her death." Mercedes pulled away from him and shook her head.

"You loved that little girl more than anyone in this world, it wasn't your fault that she d-died." She wiped away her tears. "Carrie was so lucky to have a b-big b-brother like you who would do anything to keep her safe, happy, and secure. It was an accident, a horrible, horrible accident." He stared at her for a moment and she wondered what he was thinking about.

"Why does everything I love, and would do anything for, end up being brutally ripped away from me?" Mercedes lowered her eyes.

"I don't know...but I'm still here and I'm going to be with you to help you through this. I promise."

"I cancelled your plane ticket." He said firmly without breaking eye contact from her.

She stared at him in disbelief and hoped that he was playing a cruel joke of some sort. "What?..."

"I cancelled your plane ticket. I can't let you come with me to the clinic." He said slowly before he sat up and she followed suit.

"But...why? Why... why would you d-do that?"She asked as she felt a pain in her chest which she was sure was her heart breaking.

"Because I need to learn how to be strong on my own. I need to get better by myself and I can't do that with you there." She began to cry again, but this time it was for herself and not for Jay. "When we were little, we were so _perfect_ for each other, we used to be so connected, so in sync. We don't bring out the best in each other anymore, we're not good for each other..._I'm_ not good for you."

"Jay, I d-don't understand what you're saying I d-don't get what you mean! You d-don't know what you're talking about!" She cried out and her body felt like it was in pain.

"If people use crutches their entire lives, even when they don't need them anymore...they'll never learn how to walk properly, they'll always depend on the fucking crutch." He touched her face, "We were each other's crutches because we didn't know how to make it without each other but, M, you know how to make it now. I still don't and I need to learn to walk without my crutch, the same way that you did." The pad of his thumb brushed against her cool cheek and smeared a tear on her face. "I don't want to make things difficult for you, I don't want to feel like you're mine anymore, because you're not."

"But you're my b-b-best friend." She said through her sobs.

"I know. But, having you with me at the clinic won't make me better, it would just keep me from growing, from walking on my own. I don't want you to visit me while I'm gone, I don't want you to look for me...I don't want to see you after today." Mercedes stared at him shock and felt like she couldn't breathe.

"WHY?!" She screamed in the eerie quiet of the cemetery.

"Because it would be like giving booze to a recovering alcoholic and I can't take that risk."She shook her head and covered her face with her hands, hoping that it was all a twisted bad dream. "I love you M, I love you too much, but I need to do this to be better, to figure out how to exist without needing other people to love me back." He brought her hands down from her face but she refused to look at him. "That Sam guy is an alright dude...I know that he and your family will keep you out of trouble. Hold on to him and make sure he always treats you right.

"You're making a huge mistake and you're going to regret this, p-please d-don't." Her voice broke as she spoke to him and she grabbed his hands and held them tightly. "I need you in my life Jay, I love you. D-don't."

He stared at her for a moment and then sighed. "I'm going to miss you and..." He brought their joined hands to his lips and kissed her fingers. "If we're meant to, we'll see each other again, and I hope I'm better by that time. But until then...Bye M." He stood up from his place in the grass, his joints creaking as he moved, and extended his hand to her to pull her up. When she finally obliged, he pulled her into a tight hug and whispered words into her hair that she was too numb to hear. He tilted her head slightly upwards and leaned his forehead against hers as they stood there for what seemed like an eternity, before he took a step back and turned around.

Mercedes watched him walk away from her with sore red eyes and fought the urge to run after him and make him stop to see how unreasonable he was being. But she couldn't. She had to let him become a stronger person on his own and she had to do the same for herself. After he had completely disappeared from her sight, she turned and stared at the two tombstones. "Watch over him, please...please." She said softly. After a few more moments, she finally found the will to move from the cold, quiet cemetery, and made her way back to her car. She was unsure if she would ever see the man with blue eyes ever again, but deep in her heart, she knew that some day she would.

A/N: Well folks, this is the final chapter of Through Frosted Glass, I hope that some of you enjoyed it and appreciated what the story eventually became. My writing partner and I wanted a happy ending for our characters and we thought that this was the best way for them to finally achieve that happiness. Jay was in Mercedes' life to protect her and she was there to give him the love that he craved. However, as they grew up and apart, they realised or would realise that in order to finally be complete and find out who they are, they had to do that on their own. There will be an epilogue from Jay's POV and we'll find out what happened with him. Thanks to JG for helping me write this emotionally driven story and I am excited to move on to other projects too. As always, I would love feedback, constructive criticism, input, and love.


	15. Epilogue

Dr. Phylicia Jackson walked barefoot through her living room and opened the dark red curtains that hung heavily in front of her window. She hummed a Marvin Gaye song under her breath as she stared out at the overgrown front yard. Her eyebrows furrowed, creasing her smooth brown skin, as she muttered under her breath, "I Phylicia Jackson, solemnly swear to finally take some time off of work and eventually clean up my damn yard." Her golden retriever Stella ran up beside her and whined for some love and attention. Phylicia ran her hand over her black crew cut styled hair as she shook her head at her pet. She leaned over and scratched the dog thoroughly behind her ears and along her smooth fur. Suddenly, Stella ran out of her owners hands and stood up on her hind legs at the front door, slightly scratching the wood with her nails. Phylicia's eyes widened as a loud knock sounded, she tried to peer through the open window, but her vision was obscured by a large bush. "This yard is going to get me killed, I can't even see who's at the damn door." She gently grabbed Stella by her collar and moved her away from the door so that she could open it. Her breath hitched as piercing blue eyes met her dark brown ones. He looked exactly as he had nine years before, but his body had filled out with muscle, and there were crow's feet at the corners of his eyes. Before she could utter a word, he scooped her into his strong arms and her hand found its way into his familiar soft brown curls. He had cut it since they had last seen each other. She pulled back from him and stared into his face, "Jason?...what are you...?..." He grinned at her and leaned over to pat Stella on the head. The dog wagged her body excitedly as she remembered his scent from before.

"Well, I was in the neighbourhood and thought I'd visit." His bright white teeth shone as he smiled at her. "I didn't have your number and I just hoped that you'd still be here." He turned around and looked at her yard. "The shitty yard told me that you were still here for sure." Phylicia rolled her eyes and smiled at him before stepping backwards to let him into her home. He walked inside and closed the door behind him. The two adults stared at each other awkwardly as they tried to figure out what had changed on the other person.

"Your hair..." He began to say as his eyes scanned her short thick hair. Phylicia ran her hand over her head and grinned. Jason had missed that look on her face, he had also missed her comforting words on his travels.

She gave a light chuckle and walked over to her couch to sit down. Jason slowly followed behind her and sat on the arm of the chair. "There's hair there now, but I was absolutely bald before. I had to wear scarves so that I didn't blind my patients when the sun came beaming into my office." She smiled up at him as she studied his features. "You've gotten old." She stated rather bluntly and Jason couldn't help but laugh.

"Well, I'm twenty seven now...and I haven't seen you in over five years...so yea, I've gotten old and a lot wiser." He ran a hand over the stubble on his chin and then winked at her. "You still look young for your extremely old age." Phylicia swatted his leg and rolled her eyes at him. She folded her right leg under her body and leaned against the cushions.

"Black don't crack my friend, remember that." She laughed as his eyes travelled up her body. Her mind raced over memories of him doing that when they had session's together years before. She cleared her throat and scratched her neck. "When did you come back to New York?"

He chewed on his bottom lip and let out a long breath. "Last week. Summer vacation for my students started about two weeks ago, so I figured that it was time to come back and...reconnect with some important people I guess." Her eyes widened at the mention of students. She wasn't entirely surprised that he had become a teacher, in fact she was the one who had suggested it to him when he had been in therapy. His love for kids made her feel that he would have been doing the world a disservice if he hadn't chosen to become a teacher. "Plus my mom is getting married to a guy named John in a few days and she asked me to walk her down the aisle..." He shook his head, "It'll definitely be interesting, I can guarantee that."

"Well, you and your mother were on better terms during your treatment. I remember that you actually let her sit in on one of our sessions together, which was a huge step for you." She smiled, "Plus, you're going to look pretty damn attractive in your rented tux and clip on bow tie."

"Correction, it's a clip on tie. I'm not six years old." He laughed and they shared a look. "I missed you while I was gone...I thought you'd be married with children by now. Especially since you would drone on and on about families and how important they were."

Phylicia shrugged. "Well...I have Stella, and I'm just busy. Plus the men out here are insane."

"Well that's because you psychoanalyse everyone around you."

"Hell yes I do, I didn't become a psychologist to pick my nose and shack up with some mamas boy who lives in his parents basement smoking weed all day with his boys." She laughed, "I'm in the business of looking for a man, not a child." Jason smiled and rubbed his hands together.

"Well...I'm a man..." Phylicia immediately stopped laughing and stared at him. "I've grown up a lot since I went to Thailand...you learn a lot of things over there, see things...do things." He shrugged, "I teach little kids how to be strong, how to read, how to be independent." They stared at each other for a few seconds before Jason sighed. "Listen, I just came here to say ...thank you, for everything. I was in a bad place when I came to you and you helped me through it for years." He smiled, "So, thanks."

"Jason...you don't ha—"

"I know I don't have to, but I want to." She stared at her hands for a moment before she stood up and hugged him tightly, almost knocking him over in the process. He buried his face in the crook of her neck as they held each other. Neither of them uttered a word, but they understood what wasn't being said in their silence. She pulled back from him and gave him a firm shoulder squeeze. "I have a long drive ahead of me...but it was good seeing you doc." He grazed her cheek with the pad of his thumb and she leaned into the touch. She smirked at the familiar name and led him to the front door with Stella following behind them.

"Goodbye Jason." A familiar weight rested on her chest as he walked out of the door. Jason gave her one last smile before he headed down the block to his car. His heart began to beat quickly as he slipped into his seat behind the steering wheel. He rested his forehead against the cool leather that was wrapped around the wheel. It had been nine years since he had gone back to his family home and a part of him was scared of what would happen when he did. He was proud of the progress that he had made over that time, but this would be the true test for him to see if he could actually handle it. There would be a lot of memories to deal with on his own and even though he and his mother were on better terms, they would never be able to repair their damaged relationship.

He put his key in the ignition and sped off down the road. His apartment in Thailand hadn't been too far from his workplace so he hadn't needed a car while he was there, but now that he was back in the United States he had needed to rent one. When he went to pick up the car, he laughed at the fact that he hadn't been old enough to rent a car before he had left the country but now he was two years older than the age restriction. Jason combed his fingers through his hair and pulled out his wallet when he came to a red light. He skimmed through the contents until he found the graduation photograph that Mercedes had given to his mother to give to him while he had been in therapy. A part of him wondered what she looked like now. Did she ever get married? Did she have kids now? What kind of work did she do?

His thoughts were disrupted by the car horn that sounded behind him. He looked up to see the green light and drove off. It would be another three hours before he reached his childhood home and he figured he would get there by evening time if the traffic was good. It startled him how the past nine years had seemed to fly by in a blur.

_ After he had left Mercedes in the cemetery, he had done his best to not think about it on his way home. But he was so overcome with emotion that he immediately threw up in his front yard. He figured that he had just signed his death warrant by kicking her out of his life. In his mind there was nothing left to fight for anymore, there was just Jason, and he couldn't give a fuck about him. However, as he stood in his yard breathing hard after heaving, his father had pulled up in his car and stared at his son. Jason had looked at him from the corner of his eye and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. The older man had shaken his head and muttered 'pathetic' under his breath before he slipped into the house and slammed the door shut. Jason had let the cool air fill his lungs and knew that his purpose of living for now was to deny his father the satisfaction of seeing his son utterly destroyed. He walked into his house with his new found motivation, gathered up his things, and waited for his mother to take him to the airport. They had sat there in an uncomfortable silence for the duration of the ride, but Jason didn't really care, he had said everything that he wanted to earlier that day._

_His mother turned to him and placed her hand on top of his. Jason immediately removed his hand from hers. She had cleared her throat and wiped her eyes. "Well, I love you...and please keep me posted." He stared straight ahead and nodded._

_"K. Bye." With that he had slipped out of the car, grabbed his bags, and headed off to find his plane without ever looking back. He was determined to stay alive and he wasn't going to let her drag him down in her pity party. She had made her own bed and he had no business laying in it. The plane ride for him had been uneventful, aside from the fact that the pressure had given him a headache which had made him nervous through the duration of the trip, which wasn't very long by plane. Once they landed, he pulled a crumpled up piece of paper out of his pocket and studied the address of the clinic. He had planned on taking a taxi from the airport, but had been surprised to see a man in a black suit and hat holding his last name written neatly on a card. Jason started to walk towards the man, but then decided at the last minute to take a taxi instead. His mother would probably have been annoyed, but he genuinely didn't care. _

_The clinic was a tall, bland, building that could probably depress the patients who weren't even battling depression. He paid the cab driver, slung his bag over his shoulder, took a deep breath, and walked inside. The receptionist greeted him warmly, but he found her too enthusiastic and happy for his taste. She had shown him to his room, which was a cozy size, and explained that there would be a tour later that day before she finally left him. He went to lock the door behind her, but noticed that none of the doors had any locks, not even his bathroom. Feeling defeated, he grabbed a sheet of paper and began to write a letter to Mercedes about what his trip had been like so far. He made sure to include details of what the building looked like and mentioned that he had bypassed his mother's chauffeur and had made it there on his own. After penning four pages, he had stretched out his hand and reread the pages before hiding them in his desk drawer. He had no intention of sending them to her, but it made him feel better to write it. _

_Dinner that night had been interesting when one teenager, who continuously spoke to himself about WWII, tried stealing his dessert. It took two men to grab the skinny teen and they dragged him out of the hall. A girl sitting beside him continuously stared at him and then looked away. He never tried to initiate conversation and neither did she, the pattern had continued for months until he received a letter from Mercedes. He carried it around with him, but promised himself that he wouldn't open it until he had a very bad day and needed her words to help him. The day finally came on Carrie's death anniversary. Jason sat on the grass in the yard staring at the letter in his hand. He finally made the move and ripped the side of the envelope when it was suddenly snatched out of his hand by the girl who had been staring at him for months. Jason scrambled to his feet and chased her to a lake where she jumped in with the letter and ripped it up into small wet pieces. The girl was lucky that the security guard on duty had seen the entire thing or Jason would have killed her if he had been given the chance. _

_After the incident, he completely shut down for months. He ate enough to survive, but stayed in his room every day, and stared out his window. His psychologist tried everything to get him to speak to him about what had happened and how he was feeling, but Jason had found a nice space inside of himself that he could hide away in. A few weeks later, they brought in a new psychologist named Dr. Phylicia Marie Jackson to work with him. She had intrigued him from their very first meeting by her unorthodox behaviour. Unlike most psychologists, she was extremely blunt with her patients, she called it tough love, but others on the staff called her a monster. Jason liked her tactics and he thought it was amusing when she tried talking to him and then would read boring material out loud during every session that he was unresponsive in, until he finally spoke and asked her, not so kindly, to shut the hell up. She had grinned and welcomed him back to the land of the living. They had developed a friendship where he would speak at the bare minimum and she would ramble on about everything and anything, except her own personal life. He had only discovered that she had gotten a puppy, by her slipping up during one of their sessions. The conversation had led to him admitting that he had always wanted a dog but his parents were concerned that the excitement would have overworked Carrie. He laughed bitterly at the situation and Phylicia had just sat there and listened, even when he had nothing more that he wanted to say to her. She took him outside for their sessions and sometimes they would sit by the lake and talk for hours. Slowly he began to break down and opened up to her about his life, his parents, Carrie, and even Mercedes. _

_Even though she had never said anything out loud, he could still tell that he had shocked her when he revealed how promiscuous his life used to be. She told him honestly that she couldn't see him doing it and he had laughed and shrugged. "I have a hole in my life that I'm constantly trying to fill, but those were the pieces that never fit." He became agitated months later when he found out that his mother was coming to see him. It made him so nervous that he had tried to run away from the clinic and it didn't help things when she showed up with a chubby short man in his fifties. He continuously called Jason 'son' and exclaimed that he was excited for him to get out and come back home to his mother. The thought alone made the blue eyed man nauseous. _

_He was sitting alone in his room, legs pulled up to his chest when Phylicia had walked in. During all of their sessions, they had met in public places, but that day he had purposely skipped their session. "You're going to let that oompa loompa make you crawl back into your shell like a turtle? After all the progress we have made?" He had stared silently at her as she spoke and then turned his head to the side. "Jason...don't give up so quickly hun. In a few months, you'll be done here and free. Don't give up on yourself now." Tears streamed down his cheeks in frustration as she spoke. She sighed and moved to leave the room, when he had reached out and grabbed her hand. She squeezed it as she looked at him and he let her go once he had calmed down. _

_"I'll be at the session tomorrow...just not today." He mumbled. She respected his wishes and left him alone. _

_True to his word, he came the next day and plunked himself down beside her by the lake. She smiled brightly and brushed her short hair off of her shoulders, "You actually came, I'm proud of you."_

_"Doc, today's her anniversary." He said mostly to himself as he stared out into the lake. "I dreamt that she came out of this lake and walked to my room. She was wet and covered in sea weed or something." Phylicia knew that it was unprofessional, but she put her arm around the younger man's shoulders and held him close as he stared numbly into the water._

_"She probably doesn't want you to think of her like that. You sound like you're describing the exorcist or something. But from what you've told me, she was a funny charismatic little girl who loved you more than anyone." Jason wiped his eyes on his shirt sleeves and looked at her with reddened eyes._

_"She was fucking amazing and kind of crazy too, not going to lie." He laughed and then sighed. Phylicia squeezed him and smiled._

_"And she was probably damn proud of it too." He looked at her and the two shared a long look before the psychologist moved her arms from his shoulders and cleared her throat. She quickly jumped up from her spot and pointed to a path. "Let's walk this off okay?" He had nodded and the two friends walked along the path, talking about all of the good times that Jason had with his little sister. By the time he had finished the program, he felt different, more confident if anything. He no longer blamed himself for his sister's death, but instead felt proud that he had actually encouraged her to live even with her condition. After packing up his few belongings, he went to go find Phylicia and found her in her office. He watched her scan through a huge book before he lightly knocked on the door. She looked up quickly and smiled._

_"Jason." He grinned and walked into the room._

_"What's up doc?" She rolled her eyes at the name and pointed to the chair in front of her. He dragged his bag inside and sat down, his plane would be leaving in three hours. He planned to go travelling for a year and then he would figure out what he wanted after that._

_"Not much, I see that you're all packed and ready to go now. Don't miss me too much now." She said jokingly, but Jason didn't laugh._

_"I will miss you...a lot." She studied his face for a moment and then pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. She scribbled down her number and home address. It was a dangerous move and could potentially cost her her job, but she needed to know where he ended up._

_"Here." She slid the information over to him. "But if you go crazy and stalk me, I guarantee you, I will out crazy you in a blink of an eye." She smiled and Jason laughed as he stuffed the paper into his pocket._

_"Thanks...I'll see you again."_

_She nodded and pat the top of his hand. "Looking forward to it." He stood up and walked out of her office without looking back. He was determined to continue his life moving forward and he wasn't going to let emotions hold him back._

* * *

_Two years later during a horrible blackout, Phylicia sat huddled with her dog on her queen sized bed. She hated thunderstorms more than anything in the entire world and as far as she was concerned, that type of weather made people go crazy. Which was why she carried a bat with her to her front door when she heard a loud knock. She tried peeping through the peephole, but could only see the silhouette of a person on her doorstep. Stella stood by her side growling at the intruder. After taking a long breath, she opened the door a crack and stared at the hooded figure. He pulled back the hood and smiled at her._

_"Did I interrupt your baseball game?" She stared at him in disbelief._

_"Jason?!" He nodded and she took a step back to let him in. "What the hell are you doing outside in a storm?" He pulled off his coat and folded it over his arm._

_"I called but the phone was dead and then I bused here and kind of got caught in it. I was just coming to visit and then that happened." She looked down at her pyjamas and flushed in embarrassment. He looked down at her outfit as well and smiled. "I didn't know you were so into moons and stars."_

_"Shutup..." She looked around her house. "Are you hungry?" He shook his head "Okay...so..." He sneezed and rubbed his arms. She noticed his clothes were soaking wet and felt bad for making him stand there. It just stunned her to see him after so long. "You can take your clothes off in the bathroom and I can loan you a pair of baggy sweats and a big top or something okay." He nodded and she showed him the way to her bathroom. He pulled off his shirt and kept his pants on until she handed him the new clothes. Jason watched as her eyes raked over his body and recognized the look from the women he used to sleep with before. She looked up at his face and laughed. "I need to feed you, you're too skinny." He rolled his eyes and pulled the shirt on over his head. After he changed his pants, he found her in the kitchen pulling out some leftovers from the fridge for him to eat._

_"I'm fine. You really don't have to feed me."_

_She looked at him from over her shoulder. "You're the size of a twelve year old." She snorted as she searched around for more items. Jason raised an eyebrow and stood behind her as she gathered more things. He put his hand on the fridge door to hold it open for her. She turned around and jumped at how close he was to her, she hadn't noticed he had moved. _

_"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He said quietly as he looked down at her. He never noticed how much shorter she was than him before. She stared back at him and leaned against his body. Jason lowered his head towards hers and..._

He slowly pulled up to the old house, sat in the rental car, and simply stared at it for over ten minutes. Almost nothing had changed since the day he left. He turned his key and watched his headlights slowly dim down, which gave the house an eerie feeling. The large tree in between the houses was still there, much to his surprise. He quietly got out of the car and walked up to the front door and rang the bell. Crickets in the grass grew louder as he stood there waiting. His mother flung open the door and her jaw dropped when she laid eyes on her son. She was wearing dark blue overalls and a bandana was wrapped around her hair as if she had been cleaning. A faint aroma of pine sol wafted in the air.

"You...you actually came?..." She said in awe. "I prayed that you would..." Jason grinned at her and nodded.

"Well, you asked me to walk you down the aisle so...here I am." He awkwardly shifted his weight from one leg to another. His mother noticed the motion and stepped back.

"Sorry about that. Come on in, it's messy...oh and watch the boxes. I don't want you to trip or anything." He stepped inside and was surprised to see a multitude of boxes lined up in the hall. All of the furniture had been taken away somewhere else. The house he had grown up in was now a partially empty shell.

"I didn't know you were moving..." He said after a few moments. His mother looked at him and then looked around.

"Well you know...it's a really big house for just little old me. Plus, John has a nice cozy place across town that you're welcome to stay by at any time." She scratched the back of her head. "I didn't know you were actually coming because you never responded to my letter. I would have bought some food or something." Jason shrugged.

"I kind of wanted it to be a surprise, but I guess I'm the one who got surprised." His mother looked completely different, she actually looked happy. Sadly, he had never seen her like that before. "Thanks, but I'm actually not hungry. I stopped along the way and got something." She nodded and pulled the rubber gloves off of her hands.

"Well, I'm just cleaning the house, so you can just relax, or go and come back when I'm finished. I'll drive us over to John's place." She wiped her hand across her sweaty brow. "Unless you have other plans."

"Nope, I'm free to do whatever. I can help you clean." He pulled off his jacket and threw it on a nearby box. His mother smiled widely at him and touched his arm.

"Thank you and you look amazing and tanned." She chuckled. "There's some cleaning stuff left upstairs in the bathroom. I think there's an extra pair of gloves in there too." He nodded and ran up the stairs two at a time. It was eerie how quiet everything was up there. Instead of going straight to the bathroom, he went into his old bedroom and looked around at the bare walls and floor. He moved over to the place where his bed used to be and rubbed his hand down his face.

"Oh man..." He sighed as he touched his walls. A quick movement outside of his window caused him to jump back in fear.

"Jason? Are you okay?" His mother yelled up the stairs. He peered through the branches of the tree and could swear he saw something red. "Jason?!"

"Yea! I'm ...I'm good." He closed his eyes and rubbed them hard before he opened them again. But the red thing was still out in the tree and it was moving around. He walked to his light switch and turned a light on in the dimly lit bedroom. Slowly, he made his way over to his window and opened it. A small sneeze coming from the tree made his heart jump into his throat. He had been worried that he was going to go crazy coming home and this is exactly what he had been scared of happening. He leaned out of the window and took a deep breath. "Um, hello?" He said quietly. The leaves rustled as something tried to obscure themselves from his line of sight. "I know someone's out there, now it's just a matter of me going out into that tree and grabbing you. Trust me, I've done it before."

"I don't believe you." Came a small voice from the tree. "You're old, you can't do nothin' to me up in this tree."

Jason raised an eyebrow and then laughed, "Wanna bet kid?"

"Bettin ain't allowed in my house mister. My great uncle told me that bettin' is gamblin' which means you tradin your soul with the...um...devilled eggs." Jason could see brown and blonde ringlets of hair peeking through the leaves.

"Um, well..." He was dealing with an unusual child that was for sure. "You can stay hiding in that tree for as long as you want, but the snakes in there really love children." He watched the leaves rustle for a moment before they calmed down.

"I love snakes too, so we ain't gotta problem here." Jason couldn't help but laugh.

"Well good, then you won't mind feeding them the baby spiders too." The little girl who was hiding in the tree jumped up so fast that Jason was scared that she was going to fall out of it. She ran along the limb straight into his old bedroom. She was a short little thing with extremely curly hair and green eyes speckled with brown. She was wearing a red dress and there was something very familiar about her that he couldn't quite figure out. They stared at each other for a long time without blinking before he had to rub his eyes.

"Ha, I win." She said gleefully and clapped her hands together.

"Who are you?" He asked curiously.

The little girl stomped her Barbie sneaker against his floor and it immediately lit up. "I can't tell you that because I'm not supposed to talk to strangers." Jason folded his arms across his chest and the girl mimicked his actions.

"You are a real child right? Like not made up or...dead" He muttered the last part under his breath while she stared at him as if he were insane.

"Well Pinocchio was made of wood, but I'm made of skin, so...I guess I'm real." She paused and put a hand on her little hip. "Are _you_ real?"

"That's a good question. Let's head downstairs and sort this out." He pointed to the door. "Munchkins first." The little girl giggled and made her way down the stairs. His mother was scrubbing the floor when she looked up and stared at the little girl.

"Jason..."

"You can see her too right?" His mother nodded.

"Yes...where did you _find_ her?"

The little girl pulled a strand of her hair in front of her face and studied it. "In a tree ma'am." His mother looked up at him and he nodded.

"She's not kidding...she was in my tree." The little girl spun around quickly and narrowed her eyes.

"That's not your tree, that's my mommy's tree!" Jason stared at her in confusion and his heart began to pound quickly inside of his chest.

"Wait...your what?" The little girl opened her mouth to speak again when the doorbell began to ring frantically and pounding on the door followed. Jason's mother sprang up from her spot and hesitantly opened the door.

"I'm so sorry to b-b-bother you, b-b-but have you seen-" Jason's blood ran cold as the familiar voice entered his home.

"MOMMY!" The little girl squealed in delight as Jason's mother opened the door wider and show cased Mercedes who was staring at her daughter. She dropped to her knees and the little girl ran into her mother's arms. Jason had to force himself to breathe as he studied her hair, which had been cut short on one side and was long on the other. Her bangs covered half of her face but he could still see the more mature features of the girl he had been best friends with long ago.

"Carrie Charlotte Evans! What d-d-did I tell you about running off like that!?" _Carrie? _Her eyes closed as she held her daughter against her chest. She held her tightly and buried her face in her daughter's dirty blonde hair.

"I didn't run off, I was just in the tree!" Mercedes eyes flew open and she held her daughter out at arm's length.

"THE TREE?! Child are you trying to get Children's Aid to come and arrest me?" Jason hadn't moved an inch during the exchange, he was still trying process what was happening in front of him. "I told you not to go into that tree."

"I'll never go in it again mommy. Not with all the spiders!" The little girl began to cry. Mercedes furrowed her eyebrows and looked at her daughter in confusion.

"Spiders?" Carrie wiped her eyes on her sleeves and pointed at Jason.

"Yea, that mister told me there are spiders in there." Mercedes slowly looked at his legs and let her eyes travel up Jason's body until she reached his face. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before Mercedes pushed herself to stand up. Carrie clung to her mother's leg.

Mercedes put her hand to her chest in shock.

_If we're meant to, we'll see each other again..._ Jason finally found his voice "Hey M... I've missed you."

A/N: This epilogue was just insane...I don't even know. But it is the end! Thanks to those who stuck around for this story and thanks to my beloved JG! Review if you'd like to or if you have time to!


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